And Lest We Forget
by X-Chick303
Summary: Formerly "Bleach: The Mnemosyne." Ichigo hates vacations, so he's not thrilled about his class trip to Karuizawa. But after being seen fighting a Hollow, he's approached by 'humans' with zanpakuto. Mnemosyne are soul reapers who escaped the Seireitei after being forced to remember their lives before the Soul Society. Strange thing is, no one in the Gotei 13 recalls they exist.
1. Prologue

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Along with this, I will have three major fanfictions in the works. This, ****_The More Things Change_****, and ****_Union of the Snake_****. Once I'm a good way into this one, I will begin updating them all one at time at different intervals. That way, they will all get the needed attention and love they deserve.**

**In terms of time placement, I'm not sure when this story takes place. I guess it's just one of those stories that don't seem to occur within the normal timeline. (Like the movies.) Ichigo has his Vizard powers,and Uryu has his Quincy powers, but Orihime hasn't been kidnapped and taken to Hueco Mundo yet.**

**And if I hear one person say my OCs back stories are too similar to the Vizards, I don't want to hear it. I'll admit there are one or two similarities, but the Mnemosyne are completely different. Ichigo does not gain any new powers from them, and they are not even remotely close to Hollows. They are just a bunch of random Soul Reapers who were forced into a bad situation by a sadistic witch.**

**And I don't know Japanese. Any names for weapons and attacks came from either google translate or kanji websites. If I get something wrong, you may give recommendations, but I can't guarantee I'll listen.**

**Now without further adieu, ****_And Lest We Forget_****. (Formerly ****_Bleach: The Mnemosyne,_**** but I don't think anyone got that allusion.)**

* * *

_**20 Years Earlier, in the Soul Society...**_

"Stop them!"

"Don't let them get away!"

"Somebody get Captain Soi Fon!

Botan mentally slapped herself. True, she had been in a rush, but maybe she could have done this with more stealth. Well, at least with the stealth you can get when you're trying to get 12 other people out of the Seireitei. The last thing she needed was the Execution Squad bearing down on their heads.

"We're doomed," one of her charges, a man whose face was covered in gauze, grunted. "There's no way we can outrun Soi Fon's men. We might as well surrender."

"And what, get sent to the Maggot's Nest?" a blonde woman snapped. "Forget it!"

A short young man with brown hair snapped at them to shut up and keep running, or did they _want_ the Execution Squad catching up to them? The statement got the desired effect.

Botan bit back a groan. She wished she could take them somewhere to hide, but with their _barely_ contained spirit energy, they stuck out like paint stains on a white carpet. Their only hope was to get away from the Seireitei and find a way to open the Senkaimon (and avoid the Cleaner, but they could cross that bridge when they came it).

"Botan Hamada of 1st Company, stand down!" a familiar commanding tone barked. It was Captain Soi Fon, blocking their path with her portly lieutenant. And about twenty members of the Execution Squad.

"Captain..." one of the girls whispered sadly. Botan felt sorry for her. She had probably been under Soi Fon's command before this.

Botan gestured for her charges to stop, but stay alert. She glared at Soi Fon. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Captain. You would be wise to get out of our way."

"I will do no such thing," Soi Fon said coldly. "The Central 46 have ordered your arrests, and this makes what you're doing _resisting_ arrest. My orders are to bring you in, or bring you down."

"Anybody else feel an iceberg pass by?" a young man with pale blue eyes asked aloud. "Because that was cold."

"Silence!" Soi Fon's lieutenant (whose name Botan hadn't bothered to remember) shouted. "Just stop making things worse for yourselves and surrender!"

Botan narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry, but we've done nothing wrong. It's not our fault the Central 46 and Old Man Yama fear what they don't know how to control."

"Insolent wretch!" Soi Fon snapped.

Botan glanced at the short brown-haired young man next to her. "Excuse me. What's your name again?"

"Kaoru," he replied.

"In a second, I'm going to have one of the others put up a barrier. When that happens, release your spiritual pressure. Can you do that, Kaoru?"

Kaoru looked like he really didn't want to do that, but he swallowed and nodded.

"Execution Squad, take them!" Soi Fon ordered. Her agents jumped forward.

Botan turned. "Mikomi, now!"

One of the girls, Mikomi, clapped her hands together, hair flying and eyes glowing. A glowing dome surrounded the group, save for Kaoru. The minute it was up, Kaoru dropped his control.

In that instant, Soi Fon, her lieutenant, and the agents slammed to the ground from the sudden force of his spiritual pressure. Electricity ran along the ground and walls, causing them to crack.

"Run, before they recover!" Botan shouted.

She didn't have to tell them twice. The fugitives made a break for it, trying to stay under the moving barrier. Except Kaoru, he was frozen place. He was being crushed under his own spiritual pressure.

"Kaoru, stop and come on!" Botan shouted toward him.

With a sharp intake of breath, Kaoru was barely able to regain control. But he was weak now, so Botan doubled back, picked him up bridal style, and rejoined the others.

Soi Fon looked up from the ground. "They're getting away!" She reached for her zanpakuto, only to pull back when she received a static shock from its touch.

* * *

_**A Couple Weeks Later, in the World of the Living...**_

Kisuke Urahara sighed as he handed the train tickets to Botan. "You sure you guys don't want to remain here in Karakura Town? You'd be more than welcome to stay."

Botan smiled wanly. "We appreciate the offer, but you told us you already have a group of fugitives hanging out here. I don't want the Soul Society to find them, or us in the process. You've done enough by helping Emiko develop our gigai."

Urahara scanned the large group before him. They were all decked in human clothing. One of the men had a bandage over his eye, for an injury he received during the escape carried over to his gigai. "Well, if you say so, I won't try stop you. But if you need anything else, don't hesitate to call."

"We won't. Hesitate, that is," Botan corrected herself. She turned to her fellow fugitives. "Alright, everybody! Let's roll on out."

The train pulled into the station, and Urahara watched as the group boarded. The train doors closed, and soon the large machine was rolling out of sight.

Urahara shook his head. First the Vizards, now these poor people. Forced to leave their home because of the Central 46's foolish orders. When he and Tessai found them that night (It was hard not to. Their spirit energies were like flares), he immediately intervened and sheltered them in his shop. Tessai used a kido spell (which barely held) to mask their reiatsu so the Gotei 13 couldn't find them. They never came.

And that was what bothered him. For some weird reason, in the two weeks they had been here in Karakura, no soul reapers had shown up to arrest them. Not that he minded, but it was strange. So he sent Yoruichi to investigate, and she had reported back that the Gotei 13 were making no effort to recapture their prisoners. The Soul Society he remembered would have put together an entire army to retake the thirteen escapees, so what was up?

Urahara decided to head back to his store and discuss it with Tessai. He turned to leave, only to come face to face with someone who had been standing directly behind him.

"Huh? What are you doing here?" he asked. He could have sworn...

"So sorry, Mr. Urahara," she apologized. "But it's better if you forgot about them. _The path fades, the pool becomes cloudy. Lost are you to mind's scattering. Kioku No. 1: Wasureru!_"

Urahara felt a sharp pain in his head, then blacked out. When he woke up two hours later, he would wonder why he had been passed out in a train station.

* * *

**And thus ends the prologue. At the end of every chapter, I will provide meanings for words and names you might not recognize.**

**Terms**

_Gigai-_Fake bodies Soul Reapers wear to pass as humans in the living world.

_Zanpakuto-_ A soul reaper's weapon. Translates as "Soul Cutter."

_Execution Squad- _Exactly what it sounds like. Top branch of the Onmitsukidō (Stealth Force), it's these guys' job to hunt down and kill traitors and criminals.

_Seireitei-_ Court of Pure Souls. This is where soul reapers live in the Soul Society.

_Senkaimon_- Portal used by soul reapers to travel to and from the Soul Society.

_Maggot's Nest-_ Prison in the Soul Society. It's guarded by the Onmitsukidō.

_Central 46-_ The Soul Society's government legislature. They were later killed by Aizen.

_Gotei 13-_ Thirteen Court Guard Companies. They are official soul reapers that guard the Soul Society.

_The Cleaner-_ Train-like creature that keeps stragglers from staying too long in the Dangai (Precipice World).

_Reiatsu-_ Spirit energy.

_Vizards-_ Soul reapers that have acquired Hollow powers.

_Kido-_ Demon Ways. These are set of spells soul reapers use. They come in Bakudo (Way of Binding), Hado (Way of Destruction), and several shields and barriers.

**Word Meanings**

_Botan- _Name meaning "long life."

_Kaoru- _Name meaning "fragrance."

_Mikomi- _Name meaning "hope."

_Emiko- _Name meaning "child graced with beauty."

_Kioku- _Word meaning "memory."

_Wasureru- _Word meaning "forget."


	2. Begin: Karuizawa Arc

**I'd like to thank Anya, my wonderful sister, for beta-reading and editing this chapter. And for tolerating my rants about the characters in this story. Oh, and the theme song I've chosen for this story is ****_Go_****, by Inoue Joe. It's a good song, listen to it.**

**I do not own Bleach. Only my OCs.**

**REVIEWS**

**_Saika Kogayashi_****- Kudos on being the first reviewer! And you have point. Urahara does seem to have a knack for helping out fugitives of the Soul Society. But he's forgotten the assist from the prologue, which works into the plot line. Stay tuned!**

* * *

_**20 Years Later, Present Day**_

Ichigo Kurosaki took in his surroundings.

_I'm confused..._

A laughing family walked by, holding souvenirs from the Botanical Gardens.

_...I'm a Substitute Soul Reaper, whose job is to hunt down and purify Hollows_...

A man called out to the tourists, advertising free ice cream.

_...At the moment, I'm involved in a war against Aizen and the Arrancar. I have to stay on alert, and be ready for anything_...

All around him, people milled about, visiting attractions, going into shops, and the other basic tourist activities. His classmates took in the atmosphere, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the culture surrounding them.

_...I have to protect my hometown. So what the hell am I doing in Karuizawa?!_

"Geez, Ichigo," he heard Rukia snicker. She was leaning against the charter bus as the students finished filing out. "You could at least_ pretend _you're having fun. We're on a class _trip_, _enjoy _yourself."

_Oh, that's right. _They_ pushed me into it..._

* * *

_**3 Days or So Earlier...**_

"What do you mean you haven't turned in your money for the class trip yet, Ichigo?" Orihime gasped.

"Exactly what it sounds like," he replied bluntly. What else could it mean?

The previous night, Ichigo had been up until the wee-hours of morning fighting Hollows. When he got to school that morning, he had been hoping to have a relatively peaceful day. But then Orihime asked if he turned in the money needed to attend the upcoming school trip to Karuizawa, and it all went downhill from there.

"Why not? Your weird dad can't afford it?" Tatsuki asked. Orihime awaited his answer expectantly.

"No, I'm sure he could. I just don't wanna go."

Every student in his class stopped talking and immediately gaped at him in shock. In turn, Ichigo felt really uncomfortable. "C'mon, it's not like I'm the only person who's not going."

No one spoke up.

"Seriously?" He began looking for his friends. "Chad?"

Chad was holding a brochure for Karuizawa.

"Keigo? Mizuiro?"

Keigo was decked in full vacation regalia, while Mizuiro was simply shaking his head at his friend's antics.

Ichigo went for his fail safe. "...Uryu?"

Uryu didn't even look up from his book. "I turned in my money weeks ago."

Okay, so Ichigo really _was_ the only one not going. But it wasn't like he didn't have his reasons. When he was five years old, his family took their own little vacation to Karuizawa. They'd seen all the sights, gone shopping for souvenirs, etc. His sisters still had the cloth dolls their mother had bought for them from a street vendor. That vacation had also been the last one his family took before his mother died. Going back there wouldn't be the same without her. Besides, going to a place you already went to wasn't much fun anyway.

And on a more serious note, he didn't want to leave Karakura undefended. If all his friends were going, he'd be the only one left to protect his home from Hollows and Arrancar. (Well, he guessed Hat 'N' Clogs would probably help, but he was kind of useless if it didn't benefit him.) So, yeah. He didn't want to go.

"Aw, that's too bad, Ichigo," Orihime said at last. "I was hoping we could all go and have an adventure while we were there. We could call it, "Karakura High's Mysterious Amazing Karuizawa Trip" or something cool like that."

"Oh Orihime, I love it when you dream big!" Chizuru exclaimed, leaping forward to hug her. A swift kick from Tatsuki put an end to that.

"You don't have to name our trip," Ichigo said, sweatdropping a little. "And I'm sure you'll have fun without me."

"Don't be silly, Ichigo! Of course you're going!" a new speaker piped up.

Ichigo turned to find Rukia, looking very pleased with herself.

"Your father dropped off the money this morning, so you get to come along!" she explained chipperly. "Isn't that great?"

"Rukia, what are you _doing_?" Ichigo hissed. He didn't want to go, dammit!

That was when Rukia punched him in the side.

"OW!"

"Oh no, Ichigo!" Rukia gasped feignly. "You're injured! I'll take you to the nurse's office right away!"

Rukia dragged her comrade out of the room, though he fought her every step of the way. Wanting to know what was going on, Chad, Orihime, and Uryu followed.

* * *

"What the heck was that all about!" Ichigo snapped. Instead of the nurse's office, Rukia had dragged him to the courtyard. "You didn't have to hit me, dammit!"

"Calm down, I barely tapped you," Rukia argued. Now that she wasn't in front of her peers (save for the three that followed), she was all business.

"But Kurosaki has a point," Uryu said, adjusting his glasses. "What _was_ all that about?"

"I thought you weren't getting involved with soul reapers anymore, Uryu," Chad asked in his usual stoic manner.

"Whoever said I was? I'm just curious as to why Rukia punched Kurosaki and dragged him out here."

Ichigo glared at his fellow soul reaper, demanding answers.

Rukia sighed. "Lately, reports of been coming into the Soul Society that the number of Hollows have grown exponentially in the human city of Karuizawa. They have sent other reapers to slay them, but when they arrive at the scene, the hollow is already dead and purified. Clearly the work of another soul reaper, but the only traces of spirit energy left behind belong to ordinary, non-powered humans. Though it took them awhile to find these traces, so that's why we're only just now hearing about it."

"Let me guess," Ichigo said. "The Gotei 13 is starting to feel insulted about the idea of ordinary humans killing Hollows, so they want you and me to go check it out."

"I'm not sure if they feel insulted, but you're right about them wanting us to check it out." Rukia pulled out a flier on the class trip. "When I heard our class was going to Karuizawa, I saw it was the perfect chance for us to complete our mission without causing suspicion."

"Then ask Renji to come with you. I'm staying here. Someone has to protect Karakura Town while all our heavy hitters are on vacation, and it might as well be me."

"Renji isn't part of our class, so if he suddenly appears out nowhere, we'll get a lot of unnecessary questions. And it's not as if we're leaving Karakura unprotected. Kisuke and Yoruichi can handle any stray Hollows that may show up while we're gone."

"But what if Grimmjow and the other Arrancar show up? What if Aizen makes a move and we're not here to counter it? What if-"

"What if gravity suddenly stopped working and we all went flying into space?" Orihime cut in, surprisingly. "Ichigo, Chad and I have been talking, and we think you've been too stressed lately about the oncoming war. It's not healthy, so you should go on on this mission. It'll give something else to think about for awhile, and when your done, you can go have fun with the rest of our classmates!"

"But not_ too_ much fun," Uryu added. "You need to keep your guard up when you fight Hollows."

Chad nodded in agreement.

Now that Orihime pointed out, Ichigo realized (begrudgingly) she and Chad were right. He _had_ been stressed of late, his anxiety growing more and more as the Winter War drew closer and closer. His hands had even developed a slight twitch to them, as if it were prepared to grasp a sword at any moment. Maybe taking his mind off that traitor Captain and his lackeys and focusing on something else would do him some good.

Ichigo sighed in defeat. "Fine. I'll go on the stupid class trip."

"Perfect!" Rukia exclaimed happily. "I look forward to seeing why the humans find this 'Karuizawa' so pleasurable!"

_Weren't you going on about a mission two minutes ago?_ Ichigo thought.

* * *

_**Present Time**_

So here Ichigo was in Karuizawa, on a mission to keep his mind off Aizen and the Winter War. Problem was, this was still technically a vacation, and Ichigo _hated_ vacations. He guessed this time would be be different, with his father not around to give him premature gray hairs, but still. Mission or no mission, he did _not want to be her_e.

"Look, Ichigo!" Orihime said happily, pulling on his arm. "You can see Mount Asama from here! It's so big!"

He glanced at the famous volcano. "With our luck, it'll probably explode while we're here."

"Quit being so negative, Ichigo!" Keigo shouted, tackle-hugging his friend. He was still wearing vacation regalia. "We're in _Karuizawa_, one of the best tourist towns in Japan! Think of all the hot girls we can score here!"

"You're kind of hopeless, aren't you Mr. Asano?" Mizuiro sighed.

Keigo jumped back, looking hurt. "Huh? Why are you acting so unfamiliar!"

Orihime saw Ichigo's twitching expression, so she led him away from Keigo and Mizuiro before he snapped. They ended up leaning on the charter bus with Rukia.

"Alright, everybody!" Ms. Oshi announced once everyone had gotten off the bus. "Me and the other chaperones are going to check into the hotel. While we do that, you all stay out front and don't do anything illegal. If you want, you can start to look around, but stay within eyeshot of the building." With that, she and the other chaperones entered the hotel.

"So... do you guys want to look at anything in particular?" Ichigo asked Orihime and Rukia.

"We could always go window shopping," Orihime suggested. "I want get souvenirs for Ms. Yoruichi and Mr. Urahara."

"We have the next week to buy souvenirs," Rukia pointed out. She began to look around. "But I suppose we could just browse, see what we want and decide if we- OH MY GOSH!"

Rukia sped forth, excited about she had just seen. If Ichigo didn't know better, he could have sworn he'd heard a sonic boom.

Uryu and Chad walked over to join him and Orihime.

"What's up with Rukia?" Chad asked.

Good question. The group crossed the street, where Rukia was gushing over an item on a vendor's stand.

"It's so cute!" she squealed. That's right, _squealed_. "I can't believe I found something like this here!"

"What did you find, Rukia?" Orihime asked.

Rukia held up her find. It was a old-looking doll... of Chappy the Rabbit.

"Seriously? You took off because of some stupid rabbit toy?" Ichigo snapped, exasperated.

"It's not stupid, it's Chappy!"

"Exactly!"

"Ah, I've see you've noticed my little vendor's stand," a new voice spoke up. "Welcome!"

Now standing behind the stand was it's owner. It was a lanky young man with short, messy dark hair and pale blue eyes. If he really was a vendor, he sure didn't dress the part. He wore a black sports jacket over a gray t-shirt with red graphics on it, dark blue jeans, and laceless sneakers.

"I was just having lunch, but I'd be more than happy to help a potential customer," he went on, oozing charm. "My name is Nobuki Masuda, and I am the proprietor of this little novelty cart. What can I do for you?"

Rukia held up the doll. "What can you tell me about this?"

"You have an excellent eye, my fair lady!" Nobuki said. He took the doll from her. "This here is a Limited Edition Chappy the Rabbit Doki Doki Doll. Originally made in 1978, this little beauty was extremely popular with young girls. But in truth, only 200 were made. This here is one of the few dolls that still exist to this very day."

Rukia looked upon the toy as if it were the Holy Grail. "You're _kidding_. How did you get it?"

Nobuki crossed his arms and grinned slyly. "I have my sources. If you're interested in buying it, I'm sure we can work out a reasonable price..."

Ichigo scowled at the merchant. He didn't like his smile. It reminded him way too much of Gin Ichimaru for comfort.

"Don't bother, Rukia," Uryu interrupted. He was examining the doll with a magnifying glass. "This is fake."

Nobuki froze, his body rigid from shock.

"Fake?" Rukia echoed.

"Yes." Uryu pointed to the stitching on the doll's dress. "Chappy the Rabbit Doki Doki Dolls had a decorative back stitch made to look like carrots. The back stitch of this doll looks like little hearts."

"Wow, Uryu!" Orihime gasped in awe, clapping her hands together. "You sure know know a lot about dolls. That's amazing!"

Uryu blushed a little bit, but simply coughed into his hand and adjusted his glasses. "Not really. I just appreciate well-made crafts, and won't tolerate cheap knock offs."

"I should've known you were a conman!" Ichigo barked at Nobuki. "Those shady eyes are like a freaking billboard!"

"My eyes are not shady!" Nobuki argued. "And I am _not_ a conman. I'm simply a humble merchant trying to push his wares!"

_This guy sounds like Urahara,_ Ichigo thought. They would probably get along famously.

"But if your wares are fake knock-offs, that would definitely make you a conman," Chad said.

Nobuki looked extremely insulted.

"I can't believe it's a fake," Rukia groaned sadly. "And it was so cute, too."

"Okay, I see you're not interested in the items on my stand," Nobuki said, trying to regain control of the situation. "But I'm also a dealer of other fine merchandise." He glanced at Orihime. "What about you, little lady? I have a great line of swimsuits that would compliment a figure such as yours."

Orihime blushed a deep red that, oddly enough, was the exact same color as Renji Abarai's hair.

"You_ pervert_!" Ichigo and Uryu yelled in unison, also grabbing Nobuki's shirt at the same time. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"What's the big deal?" Nobuki shrugged. "Can you look me in the eye and honestly say you don't want to see that girl in a bikini?"

Now it was Ichigo and Uryu's turn to turn red. They recoiled away from the con artist, who ended up falling backward to the ground.

"Ouch!" he grunted. He stood up, rubbing his sore tailbone. "Talk about customer brutality..." He struck a glance at Ichigo. He was looking at his hair.

Ichigo noticed this, and scowled. "Before you ask, it's not hair dye, so-"

"Have you been to Karuizawa before?"

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"How could you possibly know that?" Rukia asked. Ichigo had told her about the trip his family took only the day before.

Nobuki pounded his fist into hand in realization. "Oh, now I remember! You came ten years ago with your parents, didn't you?"

What. The. Heck.

"You were here?" Ichigo asked. "You don't even look old enough to have owned a business back then!" That was lie. Truth be told, he couldn't tell what age Nobuki was. He had one of those timeless faces that could have been fifteen or thirty.

"I did own a business back then, and I always remember my customers," Nobuki clarified. "Who could forget a head of hair that orange? If I recall correctly, your father bought discount baseball tickets from me."

Oh, _now_ Ichigo remembered this guy. He couldn't place Nobuki's face, but he did recall Isshin buying baseball tickets from a street vendor during that trip. Masaki hadn't wanted to, saying the guy looked shady, but that stupid goat-face couldn't turn down such a great price. A few weeks afterwards, when Isshin attempted to attend the game, he'd been thrown out of the stadium for having counterfeit tickets.

"I remember that, and those tickets were fake too," Ichigo said, crossing his arms. "So I'll say it again, You. Are. A. Con. Man!"

"I have plausible deniability," Nobuki retorted.

Ichigo looked ready to punch this idiot, and would have done it too, if Chad hadn't spoken up.

"Hey guys," Chad interrupted. He pointed across the street. "I think it's time to head back to the hotel."

He was right. Ms. Oshi was rounding up students and directing them inside.

"Come on, Ichigo," Rukia said, grabbing her friend's shoulder. She was clearly upset that she wasn't getting a rare bunny toy. "This guy's not worth it."

Shooting Nobuki one last death glare, he allowed his friends to lead him away.

"Come back anytime!" Nobuki called out cheerfully, waving at the group.

"Drop dead!" Rukia, Ichigo, and Uryu snapped back at him. Chad just shook his head, while Orihime wondered how they managed to say that at the same time.

Once they had entered the hotel, Nobuki's happy face dissolved into a suspicious, serious one. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his cellphone, and tapped in a number. The person he was calling picked up immediately. "Hey, Yuki? It's me. Are you busy with anything at the moment?"

"_No, not really_," Yuki responded. "_What do you need?_"

"Meet me by my vendor stand. I may have found someone of interest for us."

"._..Seriously?_"

"Yeah. Can you be here in an hour?"

"_Don't insult me. I'll be there in half that time. Bye._"

"Bye."

Nobuki hung up, and leaned against his stand. A grin spread across his lips. "Looks like things are finally going to get interesting again."

* * *

**Terms**

_Karuizawa-_ A popular tourist town at the base of Mount Asama in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan.

_Chappy the Rabbit-_ A cartoon character Rukia is obsessed with. It is also the name of her _gikon_ (temporary soul).

_Arrancars-_ Hollows that have torn off their masks and gained soul reaper powers.

_Hat 'N' Clogs-_ Ichigo's nickname for Urahara, due to his bucket hat and wooden _geta_ clogs.

_Karakura Town-_ The city where Ichigo and his friends live. They go to Karakura High School.

**Word Meanings**

_Nobuki-_ Name meaning "humanitarian." (Ironic, huh?)

_Yuki-_ Name meaning "snow" or "happiness."


	3. Karuizawa Arc Part 2

**Disclaimer: I do own Bleach. It's in my laundry room. (HAHAHAHA just kidding I don't own Bleach. Tite Kubo does. I only own my OCs.)**

**Reviews**

**_Saika Kogayashi-_ Still my only reviewer, but whatever. Thanks for catching those errors, I already went ahead and fixed them.**

* * *

_**Later That Night**_

Ichigo decided that today was simply just not his day. First, he got dragged out on this stupid trip. Second, he'd been mocked and embarrassed by an annoying con artist. Third, at dinner, he told Rukia stop moping about the stupid doll and she nearly pulled Sode no Shirayuki on him. Luckily, Orihime managed to talk her down into just smacking him upside the head. And now there was the matter of who was rooming with him in the hotel. His first roommate was Chad, and that was perfectly fine. Uryu was his second roommate, and Ichigo considered him a friend, even if Uryu himself was still being difficult about it.

But how in the name of sanity did _Kon_ follow him to Karuizawa?

"About time you let me out!" Kon snapped as soon as Ichigo opened his bag. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to breath under all your underwear? Let me tell you, it's not pleasant!"

"Is that Kon?" Chad asked, putting his clothes in the dresser. "I didn't know you were bringing him along."

"I wasn't," Ichigo admitted. "The little snot must've snuck into my luggage when I wasn't looking."

Kon punched Ichigo on the cheek, but him being made of plush, it didn't hurt. "Don't be stupid! I wasn't trying to get into _your_ luggage, I was trying to get into Rukia's!"

"How did you make that mistake? My suitcase looks nothing like that pink bunny abomination Rukia has."

* * *

From the room she shared with Orihime and Tatsuki, Rukia hefted a sneeze.

* * *

"Well... I did it the night before you left while you both slept, so it was dark and I couldn't see what suitcase I was crawling into," Kon explained.

Ichigo sighed and rubbed his temples. It wasn't that he didn't care about Kon, he did. But every now and then, he needed to get away from that perverted stuffed lion. It was one of the few things he had been looking forward to during this class trip. And now even that hope had been shattered into a million tiny pieces.

"This is probably for the better, Kurosaki," Uryu said as he unpacked his sewing supplies. (Why he felt the need to bring them everywhere, Ichigo would never know.) "At least with Kon here, no one will get too suspicious when you have to leave your body to slay Hollows."

"Yeah, me suddenly acting like a total lecher won't be suspicious at all."

"Look at this way," Chad said. "Either you can have Kon inhabit your body, or you'll have to borrow Chappy from Rukia to inhabit your body."

Ichigo imagined that.

_"Uh, Ichigo?' Tatsuki asked. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"_

_"Of course I am! Hop," Chappy/Ichigo chirruped. "Ichigo is better than ever! Hop."_

_"Why do you keep saying 'hop'?"_

_"No reason! Hop."_

Ichigo shivered involuntarily and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay then. Forget I said anything."

Chad stifled a laugh and went back to unpacking.

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful. Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu finished their unpacking, and the girls came over to their room with a deck of cards. After locking Kon in his suitcase so he wouldn't freak out Tatsuki, they all played a few rounds of sevens, which Orihime proved to be exceptionally good at. Rukia was unfamiliar with the game, but she caught on quickly and soon also proved to be quite the player. It was a good thing they weren't betting money or else the boys would have been cleared out in the first 3 rounds.

Ichigo had to admit, just sitting around and playing cards with his friends was pretty fun, even when Uryu accused him of cheating. He been doing nothing but fighting, getting beat up, and recovering for weeks now. Between rescuing Rukia, the Bounts, and the new Arrancar threat, he'd never had anytime just sit back and enjoy the company of others. Relaxing felt good. Yeah, he knew he and Rukia still had a mission to deal with while they were here, but they wouldn't be working the entire time.

Ichigo was on vacation. Maybe this week wouldn't be so bad after all.

Finally, Ms. Oshi began banging on doors, announcing that everyone had to go to bed now or else they would never be able to wake up on time tomorrow. The girls gathered up their cards, said good night, and returned to their room. Not long after that, the boys got ready and went to sleep themselves. Luckily, the room had three singles beds, so there no fights over who slept where. Kon took up residence in Ichigo's sock drawer, and was out like a light in a matter of seconds. Uryu and Chad soon followed, but Ichigo remained awake. He wasn't quite ready to fall asleep, so he just laid there on his bed, taking in the quiet. His bed was close to the window, so he got a good view of the night sky.

Ichigo gave a breathy chuckle. _Man, I remember it wasn't this easy to make me get ready for bed the first time I was here. I had so much ice cream that day I was stuck in sugar rush, running around the hotel room like a maniac. It wasn't until Mom chased me and tickled me into submission did I quiet down and fall asleep_.

And there it was. The ache he got in his chest whenever he thought of Masaki. No matter where or when he thought of her, it was there.

_Damn it, why am I not over this?_ Ichigo thought angrily, beating his hand against the mattress. _What happened to Mom wasn't my fault, I know that. I will find and kill Grand Fisher one day, and avenge her death. So why does it still hurt when I remember her, like I'm guilty or something?_ He looked out his window. _I can't have this hinder me. So new resolution; Along with Aizen and the Arrancar, I won't think of Mom for the rest of the trip. End of discussion._

For some reason, this new vow made him feel worse. Ichigo decided it was time for him to stop thinking to himself and get some sleep. Ms. Oshi had passed out tomorrow's itinerary earlier, and it was packed. He would need all the rest he could get. He allowed himself one last glimpse outside, and pulled the blankets over his body...

...Only to kick them off not 30 seconds later.

"What the heck?" he murmured to himself.

Ichigo must have been imagining things. But he could've sworn he saw someone standing in the sky outside his window, watching him. Jumping out of bed, he ran to the window and slammed it open. The sky was now clear, with only a few clouds and the moon filling it. If there had been someone there, they were gone now.

"I must be losing it," he sighed. The weapon-ready hand twitch had also returned. Orihime and Chad were most definitely right. He _was_ too stressed.

"**HOLLOW, HOLLOW, HOLLOW!**"

At the sudden shriek of his Substitute Soul Reaper badge, Ichigo bonked his head on the window frame. At the same time, Uryu and Chad snapped awake and lept out of their beds, Ginrei Kojaku and Brazo Derecha de Gigante aimed and ready. (Kon, for some reason, slept straight through it.)

Ichigo gave them a look, rubbing the forming knot on the back his head. "And you guys say_ I'm _too stressed."

As his friends deactivated their weapons, Ichigo smacked his badge against his chest and his soul slid out his out body. His body slumped to the floor, it's head hitting the bed frame with a sickening _thunk_. Ichigo winced.

"Uh, once you make sure it's not concussed, just put my body back into my bed," he directed. "I'll be back soon."

"Think you'll need any help?" Chad asked, lifting Ichigo's body up by the armpits.

Ichigo shook his head. "Nah, I'll fine. Rukia is probably leaving her gigai right now to come and help. We can handle it."

"Okay then. Be careful."

Ichigo smiled. "I will. See you later." With that, Ichigo jumped out the window.

As he air-stepped across the night sky, he was not aware he was being followed.

* * *

From what little Ichigo could sense, the Hollow was not too far off. It hadn't found it's way to the city below, so that was something to be grateful for. Now all he had to do was keep it that way.

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo stopped mid-air. Rukia was coming up behind him, also in soul reaper form.

"About time you got here," Ichigo pretended to scold her. "I was starting to think I was going to have to fight all by myself."

"Save for the jokes for later," Rukia shot back. She pulled out her soul pager. "I only just got the alert. I went over to your room to tell you, but you were already gone."

"Fair enough. What does your phone say?"

Rukia pursed her lips. "It's not giving a clear reading. I don't know why, but something is disrupting the spirit energy in this area. I can barely feel you right next to me, and you're practically a lighthouse when it comes to spirit energy."

She was right. The energy around them felt sort of... off. It was starting to make Ichigo feel edgy and uncomfortable.

Rukia tapped the pager's screen irritably. "What a piece of junk. This is what I get for buying it from Urahara on discount. Okay, as far as I can tell the Hollow is... right above us?"

They looked up.

A Hollow grinned down at them. "**What's up?**"

Opening it's mouth wide, the red glow of a cero blast began to form.

* * *

"How foolish. They let their guard down just because they can't feel spirit energy here."

"Soul pagers are _so_ unreliable. Why does the Soul Society still use 'em?"

* * *

"Ichigo, move!" Rukia shouted.

The duo flashstepped out of the Hollow's way, and just in time. The cero fired, narrowly missing them and causing a crater in the street below. Luckily, the street was deserted at this time of night, so no bystanders got hurt.

_How?_ Ichigo thought. How did they not sense it coming? It was right above them!

_ I don't know why, but something is disrupting the spirit energy in this specific area. I can barely feel you right next to me, and you're practically a lighthouse when it comes to spirit energy_.

Of course. If Rukia couldn't feel him directly next to her, then she definitely wasn't going to feel a Hollow that had been 2 feet above her head. Question was, what was disrupting the spirit energy?

The Hollow was humanoid, with sickly green skin that was all scaly, like a reptile. Its hands were black and clawed, as were its feet. Its mask resembled old _oni_ masks, with a glowing jewel in the middle of its forehead. On its back were giant bat wings. Its Hollow hole was placed in the dead center of its chest.

It snickered. "**Well, well, well. What do we have here? Two little soul reapers that have lost their way?**" It stretched its arms, the jewel on its head glowing extremely brightly. "**Ichigo Kurosaki. Rukia Kuchiki.** **You're not who I'm looking for, but you'll do for some exercise.**"

"How do you know our names?" Ichigo snapped, his hand already gripping Zangetsu. "I don't recall introducing ourselves."

"Hollow, do you work for Sosuke Aizen?" Rukia asked. "Is that how you know?"

"**Aizen? HA! Don't make me laugh, soul reapers. I would never serve that arrogant upstart. No, the master I serve is far greater.**"

Someone far greater than Aizen? Ichigo hoped the Hollow was only pulling their legs. They had enough problems as it was without adding _another_ new enemy into the mix. But they could worry about that later. Right now, they had an arrogant Hollow to slay.

The Hollow fired another cero, and the soul reapers once again flashstepped away. This time, Ichigo employed another flashstep to get behind the monster.

_With the way his mask is styled, I can use shunpo to get into his blind spot,_ Ichigo thought. The wrappings fell away from his sword, and he raised it high. _This ugly freak is about to lose a_-

Before Ichigo could swing, the Hollow turned, caught Ichigo by the neck, and suck-punched him the stomach. Ichigo gagged, trying very hard not to lose his grip on his zanpakuto and everything he had for dinner that night.

"**You were going to use shunpo to enter my blind spot, and then chop off my arm with your zanpakuto**," the Hollow hissed. "**Devious, but I can respect that.**"

The Hollow then grabbed Ichigo by his _obi_, and launched him as hard as it could in the opposite direction. Ichigo was sent ramming into Rukia, who had been trying to sneak up behind the Hollow with her sword. The two comrades crashed into the side of a partially constructed building, giving it a new window.

"**And Kuchiki was taking the opportunity to behead me while I was preoccupied with you,**" it went on. "**Come on, is this the best you can do? Show me a true battle, or die where you stand!**"

Ichigo struggled to sit up, but thankfully the worst injury he had was having the wind knocked out of him. "Hey, Rukia, are you okay?"

She grunted. "I'm fine. But my back is going to have some spectacular bruises in the morning. Now would you please get off me?"

Noticing he was still on Rukia's lap, Ichigo scrambled into a standing position. Once he was up, he helped Rukia get back on her feet.

"So am I the only one who thinks there is something seriously strange about that Hollow?" Ichigo asked.

"No, I was thinking that too," Rukia replied._ It knew what attack I was going to do, and it wasn't even looking at me_. _It was the same with Ichigo before. Does it have eyes on the back of its head?_

"**Yes, I have many talents,**" the Hollow called out to them. "**But you'll die before you find them all out! Now prepare to fall at the hands of the _Savage Thinker!_**"

One might expect Rukia and Ichigo to be coming up with a battle strategy at this point, but instead, all they could think about was how stupid that name was.

* * *

As mentioned before, Ichigo was unaware he had been followed from the hotel. Actually, he was being followed over the course of the entire day, but never noticing. At the moment, his two observers were watching the fight with interest.

The first observer was a young girl in her twenties, with long-ish lavender/gray hair, green eyes, and a lithe frame. She wore a black hoodie, black stretch capris, and black ballet flats. (It gave her a ninja look.) Tied horizontally across the back of her waist was a short ninja sword in a bronze-colored sheathe.

"The _Savage Thinker_?" she said in a bored, even tone. "_That's_ its name?"

Her companion gave a snort. "Tell me about it. Hollows get lamer and lamer every day."

The woman's companion was none other than the (cough, cough) conman Ichigo encountered earlier that day. Only this time, he had a katana with a grey hilt, a guard in the shape of a rhombus, and blue sheathe slung across his back with a leather cord. Now, maybe two spiritually-aware beings watching a battle wouldn't be so abnormal. But if the two said beings were watching while standing in mid-air, then there's something weird going on.

Nobuki leaned back, placing his arms behind his head. "So, Yuki, what do you think so far?"

The girl, Yuki, crossed her arms. "I think if Savage Thinker is anything like the Hollows we've been facing these last few days, perhaps we should stop standing here and offer our assistance. Those soul reapers are clearly in over their heads."

"Now now, don't be hasty. Miss Kuchiki is nothing so special, but if the guy is what I think he is, he could be of use to us." Nobuki straightened out and cast a calculating glance towards the orange-haired soul reaper. "Let's just sit tight and see what he can do."

* * *

**I'm warning you ahead of time, fight scenes aren't a strong point for me. So if they seem a little lacking, that's why. And these chapters will gradually get longer.**

**Terms**

_Cero- _A standard energy blast used by Hollows.

_Sevens-_ A card game where you have to empty out your hand of cards before everyone else.

_Soul Pager-_ A device Rukia uses to detect Hollows and receive orders from the Soul Society.

_Air Stepping-_ Not entirely sure what the official term for this technique is, but it allows a soul reaper to solidify the air under his feet, so they can literally walk on air.

_Shunpo-_ Flash stepping. It's a speed technique employed by nearly all soul reapers.

_Obi-_ A sash that goes around the waist of a kimono.

**Word Meanings**

_Ginrei Kojaku-_ Uryu's Quincy bow. Translates as "Arc Sparrow of the Silver Peak._"_

_Brazo Derecha de Gigante-_ Chad's powerful right arm. Translates as "Right Arm of the Giant."

_Sode no Shirayuki-_ Rukia's zanpakuto. Translates as "Sleeved White Snow."

_Zangetsu-_ Ichigo's zanpakuto. Translates as "Slaying Moon."


	4. Omake: Master of Stealth

**Kon: ** Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!

**Yuki: **Golden.

* * *

Ichigo walked through the hotel's courtyard. Orihime and Rukia had gone on and on about how pretty the gardens were there, so he and the boys decided it might be worth checking out. So far, it was pretty nice. It was a good way to unwind before dinner.

**_Rustle, rustle._**

Ichigo stopped, and turned around. All there was behind him were a couple bushes and some flowers. Shrugging, he continued his walk.

_**Rustle, rustle.**_

He ceased walking once more. There was that sound again. But when he peered over his shoulder, there was still only plants.

"Ichigo, why do you keep stopping?" Chad asked, looking at some hibiscus flowers.

"Do you ever get the feeling you're being watched?" he asked.

Uryu popped up next to him. "Are you sure you're not just being paranoid? The whole point of this trip is for you to stop acting so stressed."

Ichigo swatted him aside. "Who asked you anyway? C'mon, it's time for dinner, and I bet Rukia is still depressed about that stupid toy."

The boys reentered the hotel. Meanwhile, Nobuki and Yuki were hiding behind a tree, standing on top of each other.

Nobuki looked down at Yuki. "Told you he was on to us."

Yuki glared at him. "Who's the master of stealth here?"

"Obviously not you."

"Shut up."


	5. Omake: The Lion Creeps Tonight

**Kon: **Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!

**Yuzu and Karin:** Golden!

* * *

"Good night, Ichigo!" Rukia called out from her spot in Ichigo's closet. "Make sure you get plenty of rest! We have a vacation starting tomorrow!"

"I thought it was a mission," Ichigo grumbled.

"That too!" With that, Rukia shut the closet door.

Ichigo rolled eyes and got into bed. A few minutes later, he was snoozing.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the room across the hall, Ichigo's little sisters were also getting ready for bed.

"Yuzu, you done yet?" Karin asked, getting under her covers. "It's late, and I need my sleep."

"Almost done!" Yuzu announced. "There, it's finally perfect!"

She held up her masterpiece, beaming with pride. The masterpiece, however, was trying very hard not to go into a hysteric fit. Yuzu whirled around in her chair, holding out her creation. "Look at Bostov, Karin! Isn't she cute?"

'Bostov', at the moment, was wearing the frilliest pink dress currently in existence. And to add to insult, she had placed a kitten-shaped hat on his head.

Karin winced visibly. "Ah... it's pink, I'll give it that. Now enough fussing with that toy. You said you wanted to make Ichigo a going-away breakfast tomorrow, right? You can't do that if you're dead on your feet."

Yuzu sighed and put her beloved teddy... lion down on her shelf. Obliging to her twin, she jumped into bed and turned the light off. The Kurosaki siblings seemed to share sleeping habits, for they too fell fast asleep in just a few short minutes.

Once he made sure the girls were soundly in dreamland, Bostov, or 'Kon', as he was more commonly known, sprang from the shelf and began tearing off his ridiculous outfit.

_I've had it up to _here_ with Yuzu's stupid doll dresses!_ Kon thought, aggravated. _If Ichigo hadn't threatened me with death by Uryu if I didn't go along with it_...

But he could stew about that later. Right now, he was an extremely sexy-stuffed-lion on mission, and he would not rest until it was completed. Double checking Yuzu and Karin were completely asleep, he crept up to their bedroom door and slipped out into the hall.

He tip-toed down the hall, cackling quietly to himself. "This is perfect! Ichigo and Sis think they can go on some cool class trip to Karuizawa without me, but they're in for a surprise!"

He finally reached a door with the number 15 on it. Ichigo's room. Kon's plan was simple. While Rukia and the Strawberry were asleep, he would sneak into the room and climb into Rukia's suitcase, hiding under her clothes. They wouldn't even discover him until long after they arrived in Karuizawa. It was brilliant. Brilliant! And it would not fail, for he had thought through every detail!

That is, except the detail of Ichigo's room being very dark and his night vision left something to be desired.

_Darn it, I didn't plan for this!_ Kon thought. But he wasn't one to give up easily, so he'd just have to adapt. And by adapt, he meant grope around in the dark for Rukia's suitcase, since turning on the light would wake up the room's inhabitants.

_Bonk!_ That was a lamp. _Trip!_ No, those were Ichigo's sneakers. _Squish!_ He didn't even want to know what that was. _Bump!_ This thing was made of rough fabric, and stiff. It was definitely a suitcase.

"Ah-ha!" he whispered happily. "Found it." Fumbling with the zipper, Kon opened the suitcase and slipped in, burrowing underneath the clothes inside. Now all there was left to do was wait for morning.

* * *

Sunlight peered through the suitcase's slightly opened lid. The sudden brightness made the perverted stuffed animal awaken.

"Morning already?" Kon said to himself. He stretched his arms a bit (though as he had no muscles, one could only wonder why). He looked around the interior of the bag. "Then in just a few hours, I'll be in Karuizawa with Sis. Won't she surprised to find me in her-"

Wait a second. Since when did Rukia own tight muscle shirts? And cargo pants? And men's_ boxers_?

He wasn't in Rukia's suitcase. He was in _Ichigo's_.

_I've got to get the hell out of here!_ Kon thought in panic. He reached the luggage's opening, his path to freedom... only to have it zipped closed right in his face.

"NOOOOO!"

* * *

Ichigo paused, having just zipped up his bag. "Hey, Rukia. Did you hear a dramatic 'No' just now?"

Rukia was lifting up her pink bunny abomination of a suitcase. "No, can't say that I did."

"Oh, okay. Guess I just imagined it."

* * *

**I hit a minor writer's block, so I wrote another omake to get the juices going. Expect a real chapter up next. I will probably start writing it tomorrow.**


	6. Karuizawa Arc Part 3

**READ IMPORTANT!**

**EDITS: I decided to go back combine the new chapter with the previous old chapter, just to make it longer and to deal with the flow of the story so the battle with Savage Thinker doesn't go on for a million chapters. Now that this chapter has been up for a few days, I've made some edits to make the transition smoother and less choppy.**

**Oh, and you won't be able to review the chapter again, so review as an Anonymous person. That should be satisfactory as long as you tell me who you are. This means you, Scaehime.**

* * *

Ichigo and Rukia looked up at the stupidly-named Hollow from their spot on the unfinished building. He clearly wasn't a typical Hollow, and that unnerved them.

"Any ideas?" Ichigo asked.

"Not at the moment," Rukia admitted, keeping a tight grip on her sword. "It knew I was attacking without even looking at me, and there's no way it detected my spirit energy in this place. Whatever plan we go with, we need to be careful."

Coincidentally, as soon as she finished saying this, a cero narrowly missed her head, exploding against a steel girder. It took the two soul reapers a few seconds to process what just happened before jumping back in surprise.

"**Hello, blood-thirsty Hollow just flying over here!**" Savage Thinker bellowed, waving its arm back and forth. "**If you guys are just going to talk the entire time, I'm leaving!**"

"Anybody ever tell you it's rude to interrupt someone's private conversation?" Ichigo scolded loudly at the monster above them.

"**Anybody ever tell _you_ it's rude to talk about someone like they're not even there?**" Savage Thinker retorted.

Okay, it had a point there. Ichigo couldn't believe he was being lectured in manners by a Hollow. It was like being lectured in subtlety by Shinji. (Speaking of which, he briefly tried to remember whether or not he gave the Vizard a heads up as to where he would be for the next week. Oh well, he could worry about that later.)

Rukia, while this inane conversation was in progress, held her zanpakuto out in front of her and whispered, "Dance, _Sode no Shirayuki._"

The plain-looking weapon changed, becoming a gorgeous katana with a snow white blade, hilt and guard. From the hilt flowed a long white ribbon. Rukia never got tired of seeing Sode no Shirayuki's shikai form. Personally, she thought it was way better than that superiority-complexed khyber knife Zangetsu was.

"_Tsugi no mai,_" Rukia began, being sure to stay behind Ichigo and out of Savage Thinker's line of sight until the last possible moment. "_Haku_-"

"**Burying me in an avalanche of ice and snow? Not very sportsmanlike**."

Rukia glanced up from her zanpakuto, only to find Savage Thinker two inches from her face.

_How.. did he...,_ she thought, unable to form a coherent thought.

Ichigo whirled around. Just two seconds ago, he had been hollering at the Hollow, then he blinked, and it was right behind him and in front of Rukia.

_Impossible. Was that sonido?_ he thought. _But he's not an Arrancar..._

"_Hakuren!_" Rukia commanded, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts. As ST (name abbreviated, since writing Savage Thinker over and over gets tedious) described, an avalanche of ice and snow erupted from the white zanpakuto. The sudden force pushed Rukia and Ichigo backwards, away from the Hollow.

"**SAVAGE CERO!**" ST retaliated, firing a cero blast to counter Rukia's attack. Unlike the previous blasts, these cero was a much deeper red, and much, much bigger. It impacted with the wave of snow, the sudden heat hitting cold resulting in a huge explosion of steam. The steam burst of the explosion only succeeded in causing Ichigo and Rukia to go flying even further. It took a minute, but the duo were able to steady themselves in the air.

"Think that got him?" Rukia asked. She couldn't see past the steam, and she was still having trouble detecting spiritual pressure.

"He fired a cero right at the last minute, so I don't think so," Ichigo replied, patting down his hair. The sudden humidity was making it stick up funny. "Did you see how fast he was back there? He's not an Arrancar, so it couldn't have been sonido, right?"

"Right. I guessing flying at super speeds is just _one_ of that thing's powers. But what really gets me is how it knew what my second dance- LOOK OUT!"

For the second time that night, Rukia's warning allowed her and Ichigo to flashstep out of the path of an oncoming cero, which Rukia barely caught sight of, since it came shooting out of the steam cloud so fast. Savage Thinker flew through the steam at full-throttle, barreling straight towards the two soul reapers.

* * *

Nobuki let out a low whistle. "Wow, that thing gets hit with an avalanche at point-blank and it still comes back for more. Color me impressed."

"He countered it with a cero, so there shouldn't be much to color," Yuki noted. She glanced away from the fight to her companion. "Nobuki, what's the point of all this? We've been following this boy around all day, and to me, he seems to be just a regular soul reaper on assignment. While I noticed during our observations he had the reiatsu-control of a drunken monkey, that could just be a sign he didn't do so well in the Academy. Maybe you were mistaken-"

"Yuki," Nobuki interrupted. His face was uncharacteristically stern. "I assure you, I was not mistaken. He _remembered_."

Yuki didn't reply.

* * *

Ichigo wasn't going to give Savage Thinker a chance to dodge this time. Not with it coming right at them and showing no signs of slowing down. Lifting Zangetsu high above his head, he then brought the cleaver-like blade down in an arc.

"_Getsuga Tensho!_"

A crescent-shaped wave of white energy emerged from the blade, racing toward Savage Thinker at incredible speed. The Hollow's eyes bugged out of its mask. It was going way too fast and so was the attack. There was no way it could avoid being hit. Knowing their was nothing else it could do, it folded its wings in front of it (with some difficulty. You try moving your wings in front of you with all that wind resistance) like a shield and braced itself for the blow.

_BOOM!_

* * *

"Aw yeah, direct hit!"

"_Piercer of Heaven_, huh? What an arrogantly named attack."

* * *

Ichigo studied the cloud of smoke left behind from his attack. _Did I get him_?

The smoke cleared. Savage Thinker was still aloft, but he (calling him 'it' was getting tiresome) did not look happy. His wings were covered in nasty-looking scorch marks. But other than that, he wasn't injured.

"Damn," Ichigo cursed. "I was hoping that would cut him in two."

Rukia nodded in agreement. "His skin must be as strong as an Arrancar's."

Savage Thinker ignored their musings, gingerly brushing away the leftover soot off his wings. "**You attacked without thinking, thus not giving me time to retaliate. Not a bad move, and I plan to kill you for it. But I'm starting to see using you two as practice dummies is a waste of my precious time.**"

"Hey!" the two comrades protested. "Who're you calling a practice dummy!"

"**I'm calling you two that. Duh. From the attacks you have already hit me with, I can tell you're somewhat strong. But I was designed to fight someone much stronger, so you don't even compare.**"

_That's right_, Rukia thought._ Didn't he mention he was looking for someone earlier? Is that who he's supposed to fight?_ "Savage Thinker, right? Who is it you're looking for that you are supposed to fight? Does it have to do with the number of Hollows that have been appearing in Karuizawa of late?"

"What are you _doing_?" Ichigo hissed.

"Our _mission_," she hissed back. "We're not just here on vacation, you know."

"Could've fooled me."

"Shh!"

"**Ah, so the Soul Society noticed. A shame,**" ST sighed. "**My brothers were trying so hard to be discreet. I, on the other hand, have no use for such secretive ways. I'm more of a head-on kind of guy, you know?**"

"Just answer the question!" Rukia snapped.

"**Okay, okay, geez. Don't get your noble panties in a twist.**"

"How did you know I was a-"

"**Do you want answers or don't you?**"

Rukia did, so she stopped talking. Yes, the more rational part of her brain was screaming 'Are you_ INSANE_? You can't trust a Hollow!' But it was their first solid lead (actually, it was their first lead, period) and she couldn't pass up on it. Ichigo was thinking the same thing. One part him was questioning his intelligence for listening to a Hollow, and the other half was admitting that they needed a place to start with this investigation, so this was as good as anything.

"**Yes, I am one of those Hollows that have been arriving here in Karuizawa lately. We've come for one purpose. To hunt down and defeat our targets, under orders from our master. Who is not Aizen. That guy is a freak. Unfortunately, we keep getting killed before we can complete our mission. It's getting kind of annoying.**"

"And just who are your targets?" Ichigo asked. _Rukia said that the sites where the Hollows were defeated carried only the spirit energy of ordinary humans. Could they be the ones he's looking for_?

"**The ones who keep killing us are the ones we are looking for, coincidentally,**" Savage Thinker went on.

Ichigo sweatdropped._ Guess that answers that question_.

"**So when I saw you two out here, I figured I could fight you and train myself for whatever I came across.**" He laughed. "**But seeing how weak you are compared to the Mnemosyne, I see I was wasting my time.**"

"The neh-mo-what?" Ichigo echoed.

"**The Mnemosyne. That's who I'm looking for.**"

"Who or what are the neh-mo-seen exactly?' Ichigo asked, sounding the word out.

Rukia facepalmed. He could be such a child sometimes.

"**That's for me to know and you to find out**," Savage Thinker replied. "**I can't give away too many details or my master will be cross with me, and personally, I'd rather that didn't happen. You wouldn't like her when she's angry. Now then, Kurosaki...**"

Before Ichigo had time to blink, Savage Thinker was right in front him, claws poised to rip his face off. Which is exactly what would have happened if Ichigo hadn't used Zangetsu to guard. Claws only raked metal, creating a shower of yellow sparks.

"...**Didn't I say I was going to kill you for that little attack earlier?**"

Ichigo recalled him saying something like that.

* * *

Nobuki and Yuki glanced at each other, processing these new revelations.

"... Well, crap," Nobuki said at last.

"It's just as we suspected," Yuki said, her gaze steely and hard. "These strange Hollows were targeting us from the beginning. And now these foolish soul reapers know of us as well."

"Not exactly. Stupid Thinker hasn't given any exact details, so we're fine for now at least. Plus, if I'm right, we'll be doing that boy a lot of good."

"'If' being the operative word."

Nobuki flinched and said in a childish whine, "Yuki! You're so cold!"

Yuki rolled her eyes. "Shady-eyed moron."

"My eyes are not shady!"

As the conversation was going nowhere, the two observers cut the chit-chat and continued to look upon Ichigo, Rukia, and Savage Thinker's fight.

* * *

_**Some Time Later...**_

Yuki viewed the battle with diminishing interest. It wasn't going anywhere, and there were just so many cero blasts you could watch somebody avoid without it growing dull.

When Nobuki called her about 'someone of interest', she naturally had no choice but to arrive and hope he wasn't wrong or jumping to conclusions. But at the moment, that appeared to be the case. These were her initial observations of the subject:

1. He had some decent fighting skills.

2. He had the reiatsu control of a drooling infant.

3. He had _assumably_ strong reiryoku and reiatsu itself. In this area it was hard to get a clear reading, even if you were used to the heavy feel of the air.

4. There was no way that was his actual hair color. (Though to be fair, she was in no position to criticize.)

While observations 2 and 3 were signs that Nobuki was correct, there was nothing else remarkable about Ichigo Kurosaki. Nobuki had probably been mistaken about the boy being able to 'remember.' He was just another soul reaper on assignment in the World of the Living. A soul reaper, though, currently battling a type of Hollow he had no idea how to fight. Even her group struggled against this odd breed. One nearly decapitated their best fighter with his own weapon. (An ironic way to go, given what kind of weapon it was, but he probably would have been satisfied with his death.) How could this amateur- and Miss Kuchiki, to a lesser extent- compare?

"Ooh!" Nobuki winced sympathetically, still looking upon the ongoing battle. "That's gonna leave a mark."

Yuki placed a hand on her weapon's hilt. (She found it's presence comforting.) Yup. Those two were dead meat.

* * *

"_Getsuga Tensho!_"

"**SAVAGE ****CERO!**"

For what seemed to be for the millionth time that night, the two attacks collided, one neutralizing the other. Savage Thinker got caught in the resulting smoke, so Ichigo took the chance to check up on Rukia.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled down to his comrade. "You okay? He got you pretty good just now!"

Rukia pulled herself out of the billboard she just crashed into. "Idiot! Focus on the Hollow, not me!"

Ichigo turned in time to parry a strike from Savage Thinker. He did not want those claws touching him. He already had three slashes on his cheek from when ST got in a good swipe. He didn't need any more. Of course, Savage Thinker then chose to throw more forceful strikes. Ichigo used to his blade to guard, but each time the blade and claws connected, the force of each hit was sent ricocheting through his arms. It was starting to make them feel numb.

"**What's the matter, Kurosaki? Arms feeling heavy?**" Savage Thinker snickered.

Also, Savage Thinker's knack for figuring out what he was thinking was starting to get very,_ very_ irritating.

Becoming bored with simply clawing his opponent, Savage Thinker gripped the top of his wings and sent himself into a rapid spin. The bottom edges of his wings were razor sharp- as Rukia had unfortunately learned earlier, Ichigo remembered with a grimace. (She had narrowly avoided being cut to ribbons, only to to be kicked into that billboard a minute later.) This attack pushed Ichigo back, but with blade acting as a divider between him and the wings, it at least that gave him some room to maneuver.

Ichigo flashed away from sight, only to reappear directly above ST. He brought the sword down upon ST's ugly mask, but he fired another cero, only this one was smaller, and orange instead of red.

"**BALA!**!" Savage Thinker crowed.

A _bala_, for those who do not know, is similar to a cero, only a heck lot faster. The turn off was that it wasn't as powerful, but it still hurt like a mother if it hit you. Especially in the face. Which is exactly what happened our intrepid young hero.

The ball of energy rammed directly into the middle of Ichigo's face, sending him tumbling through the air. Luckily, the worst injury he sustained were a few burns. Nothing Rukia couldn't fix later with healing kido.

"**Seriously, is this all? I'm getting bored, Kurosaki!**" Savage Thinker laughed. "**You're so easy to predict!**"

Ichigo snarled and flashstepped forward, moving his zanpakuto at incredible speed.

"**Left thrust!**" Guard. "**Pull back, right thrust!**" Dodge. "**Recoil, slash across the middle, and go for my mask!**" Grab blade before it makes contact, then make a slight turn so a wing smack him aside. "**Pathetic, all pathetic**!

Ichigo panted. He couldn't keep this up forever. But at the moment, he wasn't focusing on that. He was thinking about ST's assessment of his attacks. Was it just his imagination, or did he call those out _before_ he made them?

"**Aw, you look confused. I don't blame you. I am quite the enigma, if I do say so myself**," ST boasted.

The moment he finished speaking, Savage Thinker was on Ichigo, holding him by the neck and shoving him, hard, against a concrete building.

"**This was a fight you were meant to lose, Kurosaki,**" Savage Thinker said as he began to squeeze Ichigo's neck. He seemed to find it pretty amusing to watch Ichigo choke. "**But at least your soul will be deli-**"

Savage Thinker, all of a sudden, flew back as if Ichigo was burning hot.

"_Some no mai: Tsukishiro!_"

The air grew bitter cold, and a long pillar of glowing ice formed directly in front of the young Vizard. The glow faded, and Savage Thinker was no where in sight.

Ichigo's hand flew to his neck, rubbing the soreness and taking greedy gulps of sweet, sweet oxygen. That was _way_ too close! After everything he had survived, death by strangulation would have been downright embarrassing.

Rukia was by his side, holding him up. "I'm sorry for taking so long, but I needed a solid opening for Sode no Shirayuki's first dance. Are you going to be alright?"

Ichigo's breathing steadied. "Yeah, I think so. Thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it." She took a few airsteps around the pillar, scanning her eyes over it. She frowned.

"What's the matter? You got him, didn't you?"

"I don't see him in the pillar. And it's not like I can tell whether or not his spirit energy has disappeared. Something is still disrupting it." Rukia didn't mention this to Ichigo, but she had been having trouble ever since they arrived in Karuizawa. She'd spoken briefly with Uryu and learned he was having the same problems. No one had mentioned this to her beforehand, not even the soul reapers who were here before her. (Then again, those were unseated officers whose assignment here was considered 'busywork.' Karuizawa didn't really get that many Hollows.) She made a mental note to have the Research and Development Department look into this. It was too bizarre to go uninvestigated.

She continued to scour the inside of the ice, praying to find some trace of Savage Thinker. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief. Deep within the confines of the ice pillar, she could see a glimpse of Savage Thinker's left arm. Satisfied, she snapped her fingers, and the pillar fell to pieces.

"That's that," she said, wiping her hands together. She turned to face Ichigo. "Since he's now taken care of, we can look into these Mnemosyne he was talking about. If they're spiritually aware humans, maybe Uryu-"

"Rukia!" Ichigo shouted. He shot forward and pulled her out of the way, just in time to save her from being sliced like sandwich bread.

Where Rukia had been standing was a now very, very pissed Savage Thinker. He was growling deeply, and also missing his left arm. All that remained was a frostbitten, bleeding stump.

"**Congratulations,**" he snarled. He fired a small cero at his stump, cauterizing the wound. "**You caught my arm in your attack, and I just had to rip my own arm off. Now I'm officially pissed. And do you know why?**" He didn't give them time to answer. "**Because I'm a LEFTY, dammit! Thanks to you, now I can only rip off the faces of my enemies with MINIMUM efficiency!**"

Seriously? _That's_ what he was mad about? Ichigo retracted any previous thoughts as to what a threat ST was. He was just another moronic Hollow.

"**And for the record, just because I take pride in my efficiency does _not_ mean I'm a moron!**"

Dang it, how did he keep doing that? Were his thoughts written all over his face or something? Ichigo lifted Zangetsu, preparing to unleash another Getsuga Tensho.

"**Not this time, Kurosaki.**"

He may have been missing an arm, but Savage Thinker was still ridiculously fast. In under a second, he was by the two soul reapers.

"_Hado No. 33- Sōkatsui_!" Rukia called out, sticking out her palm.

Without so much as hesitating, Savage Thinker moved behind her, grabbed her arm, and changed her aim... directly towards Ichigo.

Rukia's eyes widened. "No, Ichigo, wait!"

It was too late. The torrent of blue fire surged from her palm, completely enveloping Ichigo. The spell was sent plummeting down to the street below.

"Ichigo!" Rukia called out. "_Ichigo!_"

"**I have to say, you're pretty good at kido,**" the sadistic Hollow commented. "**Too bad for your friend.**"

She flashstepped away from him, a look of unspeakable rage on her face. "DIE, monster! _San no mai-_"

Savage Thinker's clawed hand was over her mouth, while one of his feet held her wrist. "**You collect moisture from the air into your sword, and freeze whatever you stab.**"

Rukia broke into a sweat. How could he possibly know that?

"**Sorry, but I've had enough ice for one night.**"

Savage Thinker opened his mouth wide, the telltale red glow of a cero seeping through his teeth.

* * *

"_Now_ can we intervene?" Yuki asked, her usually even tone now gaining an anxious edge. These kids were in some serious trouble.

Nobuki held up a hand. "Give him a few more minutes. I know what I'm doing."

"I sincerely doubt that."

"Oh, ye of so little faith."

* * *

From the middle of his smoking crater, Ichigo lay flat on his back, a red and white Hollow mask now covering his features.

"**That was a close one,**" he muttered to himself, voice now in eerie echoing tones. He brought his hand to his mask, dissolving it into black reshi. "A moment later and Rukia might've actually killed me with that."

Grunting, he stood up, slung his sword across back, and pulled himself out of the hole. Someone would probably wonder why there were so many holes in the ground the next morning, but that was a worry for another time. Right now, Ichigo owed Savage Thinker a mountain of payback.

_How dare he do that to Rukia?_ he thought bitterly._ Making her attack her own friend. When I see him again, he's getting a Getsuga Tensho right in his ass_.

BOOM!

Ichigo looked up. "An explosion...?"

His heart skipped a beat. Falling to Earth was none other than Rukia.

"Rukia!"

He lept into the air, catching his comrade and landing safely back on the ground. Rukia's sword clattered onto the street, reverting back into its sealed form, which was never a good sign.

Ichigo knelt down and cradled her in his arms, giving her a once-over. It looked bad. Her forehead was bleeding, and she had some pretty bad burns on her neck, face, and left arm. She was unconscious, and hung loosely in Ichigo's grip. Her head flopped backward, so he supported it with his hand.

_Rukia..._ he thought.

"**Aw, how sweet.**"

Ichigo's grip tightened.

Savage Thinker flapped his wings, descending onto the road. "**Sorry, but it turned out Kuchiki wasn't much of a challenge either. And a weakling, seeing as that spell didn't kill you. You two were the worst test dummies, like, ever. Of all time.**"

Ichigo didn't reply. He stood back up, and carried Rukia bridal style to the sidewalk before resting her gently against a lamp post. As he made his way back to the street, he kicked Rukia's zanpakuto over in her direction.

"**What?**" ST yawned. "**Nothing to say?**"

Ichigo clasped his zanpakuto's hilt, the wrappings around it's edge falling away. He then vanished from sight.

_**What?**_ ST thought._** Where'd he**_-

His thoughts were interrupted, as something sharp slit vertically down his spine. He roared in pain, and short forward to make his escape.

"That's the second time I've landed a hit on you," a deep, gravelly voice noted. Anyone else would have sounded smug, but this guy sounded _extremely_ ticked off.

Savage Thinker turned his head, his yellow eyes boiling in rage. It was that brat Ichigo Kurosaki. But how did he escape his senses?

_**Damn,**_ he thought. _**Kurosaki attacked without thinking again. He's surprisingly good at** **that**_.

"And it's the beginning of many, many more," Ichigo went on.

ST stretched his wings, trying not to wince. His back hurt! "**What's your problem? All I did was hurt your friend, and now you're like a completely different guy?**" The answer dawned upon him. "**Oh, I get it. You're_ that_ kind of man. You don't give a crap if I beat the stuffing out of you, but if I hurt someone you care about, you completely lose your head.**"

Ichigo smirked. "Won't deny that. Tell me, do you know what the name 'Ichigo' means?"

If Savage Thinker had eyebrows, he would have raised one. "**Doesn't it mean straw-**"

"It means 'number one guardian!'" Ichigo snapped before the Hollow could finish the usual response. "So if I didn't protect my friends, I would have no right to have that name. That's why I've decided to no longer hold back."

_**What does he mean by that?**_ ST wondered. He did a quick probe. _**Wait, this kid has**_-

Ichigo brandished Zangetsu horizontally in front of him, his blue spirit energy fluctuating rapidly and growing stronger by the second.

"_Bankai!_"

* * *

Cost of Not Selling That Chappy Doll: 900 yen.  
Cost of Having to Close His Cart Early: 5000 yen.  
Look on Yuki"s Face When the Kid Pulls Out His Bankai: Priceless.

Nobuki crossed his arms and gave a snide grin. "I don't want to say I told you so, but... I _to-tal-ly_ told you so."

Yuki wasn't listening, of course. She was too busy uncharacteristically gaping in shock. "That's... that's impossible. How he can use bankai? He's not wearing a white haori, so he's not a captain. He's not even wearing a lieutenant's badge! That's _impossible_! How can he use _bankai?_!"

Nobuki patted her back. "Careful, Yuki. You're repeating yourself."

If looks could kill, the one Yuki gave him would have completely murdered him. "It seems to me you don't wish to keep that hand."

Nobuki stopped patting her back.

* * *

At his shout, a whirlwind of energy had enveloped Ichigo's form. After a moment, it cleared.

"Bankai," Ichigo repeated. "_Tensa Zangetsu."_

Most Hollows, at the prospect of facing a soul reaper's bankai, would be shaking in their masks, begging, "_Oh, please don't hurt me, Mr. Soul Reaper! I surrender to your might!_" Or something equally corny. Savage Thinker, though, was not most Hollows. At the sight of Ichigo, all he could say was, "**_That's_ your bankai?**"

Ichigo's shihakusho had morphed into a long, form-fitting black coat that fell to his ankles, but he kept the usual lower half of his uniform. The ragged end of the coat was trimmed with white, and under the white was a trim of deep red. His sword had changed as well. Instead of that superiority-complexed khyber knife, it was a now a plain black _daitō _with a guard in the shape of swastika, and a short chain coming from the hilt.

"Yeah, this is it," Ichigo answered. "Got a problem with it?"

"**Um, yeah. I thought bankai was a crazy show of power. Your bankai is...**"

"What?"

"**...Tiny.**"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Well, _sorry_. Not everyone's bankai is a giant suit of armor or a storm of razor sharp cherry blossoms. _Some_ of us like to keep it simple."

"**Fair enough. Now, are we gonna fight, or was that speech earlier all just talk?**"

ST barely had enough time to dodge the strike from Ichigo's sword, and he'd _known_ it was coming! Ichigo was moving impossibly fast, and it was ST's own speed that kept him from losing his head. The black blade practically hummed, as if it was_ enjoying_ every contact it made against ST's talons.

Ichigo began running circles around ST, moving so quickly there appeared to be more than one of him. Whenever the Hollow tried to make a move against the substitute soul reaper, all he received for his trouble was a cut against his skin. Shrieking, ST released a cero towards the ground, causing the surrounding asphalt to explode. Ichigo simply jumped, planted his feet horizontally against a nearby streetlamp (not the one Rukia was resting against), and used it as his launching pad as he pushed himself off of it, shooting forward like a bullet. The resulting force of the motion caused the streetlamp to bend inward. Ichigo brought his foot down on ST, who guarded with his wing, received a spin-kick from Ichigo's other foot. He'd known it was coming. He hadn't had time to do anything about it. Savage Thinker was sent hurtling into a parked truck.

Ichigo landed on the ground, resting his sword over his shoulders. "What's wrong, Savage Thinker? I thought you said all my attacks were pathetic. So why can't you keep up?" Ichigo smirked. "You may have been able to predict my moves up until now, but that doesn't matter if you're too slow to counter them."

Savage Thinker pulled himself out of the crumpled heap of metal that was once a truck. He was being oddly quiet.

After a moment, he finally spoke. "**Your bankai is a compression type.**"

"Eh?"

"**All your spirit energy compresses into your sword, giving you freaky speed and strength. You're right. I can't keep up with you. At least, not at my current level of power.**"

Savage Thinker spread his wings, and brought up his remaining hand up to his forehead. With one quick motion, he sliced the jewel residing there in half. The part that was removed crumpled into sparkly red dust.

_What is he-_ Ichigo began to think.

_FOOM_!

The Hollow's body erupted into a supernova of blinding light. Ichigo could only assume his spiritual pressure was also getting stronger, but he was having difficulty sensing it, just like Rukia. The sheer strength of this power made the street crack up. Ichigo was forced to take to the air to avoid being crushed.

"What the hell is that?" Ichigo asked himself. "All he did was break a part of that jewel on his forehead." His eyes widened in realization. "Wait a minute. Could that jewel be something that was suppressing his power?"

"**You got that right.**"

Ichigo turned. Only a second ago, his opponent had been a burning mass of light on the street. Now he was directly behind him. Sort of.

Meaning, it _was_ Savage Thinker, only he looked a little bit... different. His scaly green skin was much darker, and more like armored-plating than skin. His shoulders stood out like spikes. His black clawed feet and hands (he had miraculously regained his left arm) now appeared to be made of a shiny black metal. Extending from his rear was a thick prehensile tail, like a lizard's tail. ST's wings were bigger, the sharp edges protruding like knives. An icky glowing green ooze seeped from his Hollow hole.

"**Behold my true form, Kurosaki!**" Savage Thinker howled. "**Expertly forged by my master! She created my entire breed! Do you fear it?**"

Ichigo gagged at the sight of the green ooze. "More like I'm _disgusted_ by it."

"**Oh, the ooze. Yeah, my master hasn't been able to work that bug out yet. She's tried everything, but it just keeps coming back. It's pretty gross.**"

"I see what you mean. Hows about I kill you so I don't have to look at it anymore?"

"**You can try. Can't guarantee you will.**"

Ichigo pointed his zanpakuto at the Hollow. "I won't_ try_ to kill you. I _will_ kill you. But not before I make you get down on your knees and apologize to-"

Savage Thinker was no longer in front of him. He was behind Ichigo, and blood sprayed from the young Vizard's arm, starting from just above his wrist to his shoulder.

"**After that rant, you were planning to use shunpo to get right up in front of me and cut my mask in half, then grab Kuchiki and get her to Orihime for healing. That's not going to happen. You're going to die. For real, this time.**"

There were many things wrong with sentence. The one that stood out most to Ichigo was the fact he knew who Orihime was. There was no way Savage Thinker could know who she was.

* * *

"Achoo!"

Tatsuki raised her head groggily from her pillow. "You say somethin', Orihime?"

Orihime, now sitting up in bed, was rubbing her nose. "Oh, I didn't say anything. I just sneezed it all. Somebody is probably just talking about me."

Tatsuki plopped her head back down. "I doubt anyone is gossiping this late at night. Go back to sleep."

"Alright. Good night, Tatsuki."

"Night, Orihime."

Orihime laid back down, turning on her side. But she didn't go back to sleep. Instead, she was looking Rukia's gigai (inhabited by Chappy), who was thumbing through some girly romance manga.

_Rukia left awhile ago_, Orihime thought. _Her soul pager went off. That means Ichigo most likely had to leave too. I hope they're both okay. _She turned onto her back. _I wish I was able to feel their spiritual pressures, but for some reason, I can't sense them very well in this town. It's strange, and I don't like it. _She closed her eyes. _Rukia, Ichigo. Please stay safe_.

* * *

_Schlick._

Blood seeped through his lips. Ichigo glanced down, only to see five claws protruding through his chest.

"_ICHIGO!_"

* * *

**Oooh, how cruel of me to end it right there. But I was entering a rut, so it was better to post this and take a break. The end of Savage Thinker will be next chapter, I promise. Then on with the story line.**

**Terms**

_Sonido-_ Translates as "Sound." It's a speed technique employed by the Arrancar, similar to shunpo.

_Shikai-_ Translates as "Initial Release." A soul reaper will give a command and say the zanpakuto's name. The weapon will take on its true form.

_Bankai-_ Translates as "Final Release." This is the most powerful form a zanpakuto can take.

_Reiryoku-_ Spirit energy that resides in a soul reaper's reserved. Reiatsu is external spirit energy that manifests as spiritual pressure.

_Bala-_ Translates as "Bullet." As previously explained, this is similar to a cero, only smaller, faster, and not as powerful.

_Research and Development Department-_ This department, run by Squad 12, conducts all the scientific research in the 13 Court Guard Squads.

**Words**

_Some no mai: Tsukishiro- _Translates as "First Dance: White Moon." This is Rukia's primary attack.

_Tsugi no mai: Hakuren-_ Translates as "Next Dance: White Ripple." This is Rukia's secondary attack.

_San no mai-_ Translates as "Third Dance." If ST had allowed Rukia to finish, the attack's name would be _Shirafune_, or "White Sword."

_Getsuga Tensho-_ This is Ichigo's primary attack. As stated by Yuki, it means "Piercer of Heaven."

_Tensa Zangetsu-_ Translates as "Heaven Chain Slaying Moon." This is Ichigo's bankai.

_Daito-_ A Japanese long sword.

_Hado No. 33- Sōkatsui- _Translates as "Way of Destruction No. 33: Pale Fire Crash." This is a kido spell that produces a burst of blue flame. Members of the Kuchiki family are well versed in this spell. Here is its incantation:"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."


	7. Omake: What About the Vizards?

**Kon: **Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!

**Vizards:** Golden!

* * *

It was a typical evening in the Vizard warehouse. Kensei was working out, Mashiro was trying to distract him, Hachi meditated, Lisa read her dirty magazines, and etc.

"Guys!"

The gathered Vizards looked up to see a frantic Shinji run in.

"He's gone!" he hollered.

"Who's gone?" Rose asked, paying more attention to his guitar than the raving blonde before him.

"Ichigo!" He replied. "He's not at his school, he's not at his house, he's not anywhere! I can't even find his spiritual pressure!"

The exiled soul reapers continued to just stare at him.

"And you're running around like a headless chicken because...?" Lisa inquired, folding her magazine. Shinji clearly wasn't going to calm down any time soon.

"Somebody like Ichigo doesn't just disappear into thin air!" Shinji snapped. "For all we know, that idiot has probably gotten himself captured or worse! You know he can't hold his mask for very long, and-"

"PIPE DOWN, BALDY!"

_WHACK_!

The Vizards winced. They could sympathize, because at one point or another, they too had been struck with Hiyori's Sandal of Doom. Shinji landed unceremoniously on the ground, clutching his bleeding nose.

"What the hell, Hiyori!"

"You idiot!" Hiyori sighed, slipping her shoe back on to her foot. "You don't know, do you?"

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Know what?"

"Kisuke gave us a call a couple days ago," Love began to explain.

"He said Berry is on a class trip!" Mashiro added chipperly. "He and his friends are going to Karuizawa and won't be back for a week!"

Shinji stood up, smearing the blood off his face with a rag. "How come I never heard about this?"

"We assumed you knew, moron," Hiyori insulted him again. "You were right in the room when Lisa answered her cellphone."

Shinji thought back to the last couple days. He didn't recall anything like that. But that probably because he, Love, and Rose had their bimonthly drinking fest during that short period of time and he'd gained the mother of all hangovers. Excuse him for not noticing something as minuscule as someone answering a phone call while his head threatened to explode. (Love and Rose had always been better at holding their liquor than him.)

"While he's gone, Urahara will be handling the protection of Karakura," Hachi said, looking up from his meditation. "As for Ichigo, I'm sure he's doing fine. Knowing him, he needs the break."

Shinji tossed his bloody rag aside, and rubbed the back of his neck irritably. "Damn that kid, getting me worked up for nothing. See if I ever worry again."

With nothing left to work him into a tizzy, Shinji plopped down on the nearest couch, grabbed a random book off the floor, and began skimming it. Silence had once again filled the warehouse, but only for a couple minutes before another shout filled the air.

"Kensei, I wanna go on vacation!" Mashiro declared to her former captain. "We never go anywhere!"

"What are you talking about?" Kensei growled, slamming his fist into his punching bag. "We go places. You dragged Lisa and Hiyori to the mall last week."

"Stupid Kensei, that's not a vacation!" Mashiro smacked Kensei's forehead repeatedly. "Vacations mean going somewhere _reeeeaaal_ faraway, and you get to go to the beach and buy crappy souvenirs you'll break in the first week! I wanna go on a vacation!"

"Mashiro, we're Vizards! We don't go on vacation!"

"Why?"

"Because!"

"Because why?"

"Just... because!"

"Just because _why_?"

And so this continued on for the rest of the night. Mashiro asking why, and Kensei not giving any valid reasons. And every Vizard would wake up the next morning with a giant headache.

Ugh, Mashiro was right. They _did_ need a vacation.


	8. Karuizawa Arc Part 4

_**Several Minutes Earlier**_

Ichigo's face smashed against the rooftop as Savage Thinker gripped his skull. To add insult to injury, he forcefully started to scrape his face against the stone roof.

"**Eat some concrete, Kurosaki, and tell me how it tastes!**" ST chortled.

"See.. for... yourself!" Ichigo grunted. He planted his hand and sword onto the roof, and twisted his body so his legs wrapped around Savage Thinker's neck. With a strong shove, ST was thrown off and Ichigo flashed away to get a safe distance from his adversary.

Ichigo was in pretty bad shape. His arm had stopped bleeding but he had a slew of new injuries to worry about. Bruised ribs, lacerations on legs, chest, and arms, and now the left side of his face probably looked like it been rubbed against a cheese grater.

_I can't keep this up_, he thought, panting from exhaustion. Savage Thinker was stronger than before, and was actually managing to keep up with his bankai._ If I lose any more blood, I might pass out_.

A roar echoed through the air and Ichigo snapped to attention. Savage Thinker was coming back around. Keeping his free palm on top of the hilt, he thrust Zangetsu forward, stabbing at Savage Thinker's gut when he got close. Of course, Savage Thinker cockily blocked the blade with his right hand and gave Ichigo a punch to the jaw with his left. (ST seemed _really_ happy to have his left hand back.) Ichigo retaliated with a series of blows to the head, but ST angled his head in different ways that always made the sword only hit air or he would parry with his claws. Both opponents were just blurs of black and white, the sound of metal hitting metal ringing throughout the night sky.

"**Too bad you didn't take Uryu and Chad up on their offers of help,**" Savage Thinker taunted. "**Then maybe you would have an actual _chance _of laying a scratch on me.**"

He was doing it again. Saying things he should _not _know about. He knew Ichigo's name without being told, he knew his friends, what Rukia's shikai techniques did, what attacks he was going to do _before_ he even did them.

Going off what he'd seen and _painfully _experienced, Ichigo actually had a theory as to what Savage Thinker's secret was. But he didn't have any time to see if he was right. Savage Thinker was too dangerous to live, and he needed to go down.

Lifting himself high above Ichigo, Savage Thinker sent himself into a spin, just so his tail would smack Ichigo and sending him air-skidding for 10 feet. Ichigo caught himself and ran forward at breakneck speed. He made a slash at ST's feet, and ST jumped over the sword and released a cero. Ichigo batted the doom blast away with Tensa Zangetsu, and flashstepped behind Savage Thinker. He plunged the blade's tip into ST's shoulder, causing the Hollow to howl indignantly.

"What was that about me not laying a scratch on you?" Ichigo said smugly.

"**You little pest!**" Savage Thinker snarled. He turned his head and shouted, "**BALA!**"

Ichigo lept out of the way, the bala nicking his shoulder but he was otherwise unharmed.

Savage Thinker tucked his wings in and went soaring straight up into the air, like a rocket. Once high enough, he dove straight down like a torpedo, directly toward the young Vizard.

"**Die, you Soul Reaper SCUM!**"

Ichigo had had enough. He was wounded, he was tired, and he was still pissed Rukia had been hurt because of all this. He raised his zanpakuto, black and red reiatsu coming off it in waves.

"_Getsuga..._" He raised the blade above his head. "_TENSHO!_"

A spiral of red-trimmed black energy burst from Tensa Zangetsu as Ichigo brought it down, seeming to split the very air apart. Savage Thinker was on a collision course with the attack.

_He's coming in too fast,_ Ichigo thought. _He won't be able to dodge it_.

And that goes to show, if you have a chance of winning, don't go thinking things like that. Savage Thinker unfurled his wings, catching the updraft and gaining a few feet of distance. He opened his maw wide, creating his biggest cero yet. It was such a deep shade of red it was almost black, and ST's head looked like it would split in two just trying to contain the blast.

"_**SALVAJE SUPREMA CERO!**_"

Getsuga Tensho hit its mark at the exact time ST released his cero. An explosion ripped through the air. Ichigo crossed his arms in front of his face, bracing himself against the shockwave. Such masses of power connecting at the same time caused a ripple of energy to spread across the sky. Windows shattered, leaves were blown off trees, and car alarms went off.

After a moment or two the air settled, and Ichigo put his arms down. He looked around. Savage Thinker was nowhere in sight, Ichigo remained skeptical. This wasn't the first time (quite literally) he'd assumed Savage Thinker was dead.

_Is he really dead this time?_ he thought.

"**No, I'm not.**"

Ichigo turned, ready to drive his sword into Savage Thinker's mask.

_Schlick._

Blood came spilling out his mouth. Ichigo glanced down, only to see five claws protruding through his chest. Savage Thinker hovered in front of him, wounded by not defeated. He grinned.

"**I win.**"

Ichigo slumped over.

"_ICHIGO!_"

* * *

"That tears it," Yuki said gravely. "I didn't come here to watch this boy die. I'm intervening." She drew her short sword from its sheathe, and held it so the flat of the blade was facing her. "Pierce my foes-"

Nobuki grabbed her wrist. "_Don't_ pierce her foes, thank you very much."

Yuki shot her companion a murderous look. "Masuda, unhand me or else-"

"Take a chill pill,_ Korematsu,_" Nobuki retorted. Two could play the last-name game. "I think Berry Boy has it just about figured it out. But if you want to be of any help, go make sure Kuchiki is really down for the count. I don't want her interfering with this next part."

Yuki scowled, but reluctantly slipped her weapon back into its sheathe. She would play by Nobuki's rules. For now.

* * *

_It hurts. Everything hurts_.

Rukia's eyelids fluttered open. She was lying against a street light on the sidewalk.

_What the..._ she thought muddily. _How did I get down here_?

Gritting her teeth in pain, she unsteadily pulled herself into a standing position, and limped over to Sode no Shirayuki, who was laying carelessly a few feet away.

_The last thing I remember_, Rukia thought as she bent over to pick up her zanpakuto, _was fighting Savage Thinker_. _He hit me with a cero, then I blacked out. Before that, I accidentally hit Ichigo with Sokatsui. _She painstakingly made her way over to the crater she had seen Ichigo make with his fall. It was empty.

"He's not here," she sighed with relief. "But where did he-"

Something went _splat_ on the ground next to Rukia. She glanced down, and saw it was a bright red liquid.

Blood.

Rukia immediately shot her gaze upward, just in time to see Ichigo slump in Savage Thinker's claws. Her own blood ran colder than her zanpakuto.

"_ICHIGO!_"

No. Not possible. He couldn't-!

And to make it worse, Rukia still was just barely to detect his spiritual pressure, so she couldn't tell if he was really alive or not.

"Ichigo, hold on!" she screamed, drawing her sword. "I'm coming!"

She flashstepped into the air. Ichigo, for the love all things holy, please let him be all right.

"I'm sorry," she heard a quiet voice say. "But I can't let you help him yet."

Someone grabbed Rukia by the back of her shihakusho, and dragged her forcefully back to the street.

"Let me_ go_!" Rukia shrieked. "He'll _die_ if I don't-"

"And you'll die in the long run as well," the voice's owner replied, tossing her aside. "Do you think he'd want that?"

Rukia finally got a look at the owner of the voice. It was a short young woman (though still much taller than her) in a black hoodie, with odd lavender/gray hair and bright green eyes peering through her long bangs. A short sword in a sheathe was tied across the back of her waist. If she had any spirit energy, it must have been ridiculously weak because Rukia couldn't feel it in the slightest.

"Who the hell are you?! How are you able to see me?!" Rukia snapped. "What gives you the right to stop me?!"

The woman didn't answer. "Just stay put, and I promise you'll be alright."

"Get out of my way!"

Rukia brought her zanpakuto down on this foolish human who thought she could prevent her from helping her friend. How_ dare_ she?!

In the time it took the average person to blink, the woman drew her own weapon and blocked Rukia's blow. It was a ninja sword, with a black hilt and a guard in the shape of a comma.

Rukia proceeded to deliver a series a rapid fire strikes, but her opponent in turn blocked each one by only altering the position of her wrist.

"You shouldn't let your emotions drive your actions," she scolded. "Isn't that what they teach in the academy?"

"Shut up!" Rukia snarled. "Like you would know anything, human!"

The part of her mind that was still rational wondered how a human knew about the Soul Reaper Academy, but Rukia shoved it into a corner. Rationality went out the window a long time ago.

The woman rolled her eyes, mumbling something about having to deal with hysterical women. She ducked Rukia's next stab, crouched low to the ground, and jumped up. Mid air, she performed a series of powerful foot stomps towards Rukia's face- which Rukia barely blocked with her forearm- before delivering one last kick to her jaw. Rukia was sent flying down the road, and didn't stop until she crashed into a wall.

"That move..." Rukia muttered, spitting out blood and trying to stand up. "That was _Gatoringu Jidanda _. How do you know Hakuda, human?"

The woman, still not giving any answers, ran over to Rukia and pushed her against the wall.

"What are you-" Rukia began to protest. She stopped when she noticed something strange. Her vision grew hazy, and what seemed to be purple cherry blossoms were falling in front of her attacker.

The woman frowned in sympathy. "Sorry about this."

Realization hit her hard. This was-

"Haku... fuku..." Rukia closed her eyes, allowing unconsciousness to once again claim her.

* * *

Ms. Kuchiki went limp, and Yuki gently laid her down on the sidewalk.

"Personally," she said to the unconscious noble. "I would have let you help him. But Nobuki has his reasons for everything, no matter how stupid they may be."

Yuki returned her sword to its sheathe, and quickly airstepped her way back to Nobuki's side. He hadn't even moved from his spot, perfectly comfortable keeping an eye of the probably deceased orange-haired soul reaper.

"Happy now?" she said sardonically.

Nobuki nodded. "Very. Thanks for asking."

Yuki swallowed the urge to strangle him right then and there. _Not worth the meeting, not worth the meeting, not worth the meeting_...

"So, as fun as it must be to watch some poor fool die, where are you going with this, Nobuki?"

Nobuki grinned knowingly. "Patience, Yuki. There's a method to my madness."

Yuki knew she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him, so she cut the conversation off. All she could do now what continue her observations. Nobuki had better be right about this, or there would be some_ extreme_ hell to pay.

* * *

Savage Thinker removed his claws, and simply held Ichigo in one of his giant hands like a rag doll.

A beat.

Two.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ichigo's form twitched, and it was clear he was trying to lift his head.

"**I'm impressed,**" Savage Thinker admitted. "**Not only are you still alive,**" He glanced down at the sword still clutched in the Vizard's hand. "**but you managed to keep hold of your weapon. You're either extremely stubborn, or extremely stupid.**"

"Not... stupid..." Ichigo grunted, coughing up another mouthful of blood. "Just a little... slow on the uptake."

"**Oh**?"

"It took me awhile," he went on, succeeding in lifting his head. It felt so heavy. "But I finally figured it out. You have the ability to... read minds, don't you?"

ST grinned maniacally. "**About time, Kurosaki. What gave me away?**"

"You knew my name... and Rukia's. You knew what Rukia's attacks did... before she performed them. You knew about my friends and their abilities... and I never said a word. You always countered my attacks, saying they were... 'predictable.' When you were choking me, you were so focused on me... you didn't listen for Rukia. The only time_ either_ of us ever landed a solid hit on you... was when you weren't paying attention to our thoughts... or I attacked without _thinking_. You proved me right... just before your last attack."

"**Eh, I couldn't resist one last comment. But you are correct. You see, my master gave me the ability to read the minds of humans and soul reapers, and placed this jewel on my brow to keep it in check. She turned me from just a garden variety Hollow to something extraordinary. I owe her everything, and will do anything she asks of me.**" Savage Thinker smiled. "**One day, she walks up to me and my brethren, and tells us to come to Karuizawa and attack a group she calls the Mnemosyne. 'They are very strong' she says, 'but you won't be able to tell at first.' So here I am. And just my luck, I come across a pair of punching bags to hone my skills on. It's just your_ bad_ luck you lost.**"

"I haven't lost!" Ichigo snarled with ferocity that hadn't been there before. "Not yet."

Savage Thinker look exasperated. "**You've got to be kidding me! Look at yourself! You have one foot in your grave, for crying out loud! How do you plan on winning this?**"

Ichigo smiled wanly. "I guess I'll just have to what works, now won't I?"

He then promptly plunged his zanpakuto into the clawed hand holding him.

"**ARGGGHHH!**"

Savage Thinker released Ichigo, who then cut deeply into the Hollow's shoulder and lopped off the shoulder spike.

_**Why...**_ ST thought. _**Why didn't I sense that coming**_?

Without so much as hesitating, he flashstepped behind ST and cut across wings, and then back to his front to stab him multiple times in the chest. Savage Thinker attempted to claw him again, only to have have said claws chopped off. In a blur of motion, he felt the agonizing pain of having his tail cut clean off as well. Extending his wings, he soared forward, trying to get away from the substitute soul reaper.

"**How is he doing this?**" he said to himself. "**I haven't sensed his thoughts once in the last few minutes! What changed?**" The answer occurred to him. "**Could it be... he's been fighting without thinking this _entire_ _time_? But that's impossible! You can't fight by pure instinct alone!**"

"I beg to differ!"

Ichigo dropped himself on ST, planting both feet on the Hollow's wounded back and forcing him down on to a rooftop. Savage Thinker whacked him away with one of his wings, and fired a bala. Ichigo crossed his arms in front himself and took the blast, but this time he didn't let it stop him.

"_Getsuga Tensho!_"

Savage Thinker's reflexes took over and he dove into the sky, narrowly avoiding the oncoming curve of energy.

"**How, how, _HOW_?!**" The Hollow thought desperately. "**How is this possible?!**"

"Simple," Ichigo replied, appearing right next to him. "If you anger somebody badly enough, they throw all logic and strategy to the wind and attack recklessly. And buddy, you managed to completely PISS ME OFF!"

With that declaration, he swung at ST's side, meaning to cut the telepath in half.

Savage Thinker caught the blade.

"What the-"

"**Just now? You were thinking, 'I'm gonna cut this damn bastard in half.'**"

Keeping his grip on the sword, Savage Thinker started to spin around, taking Ichigo along for the ride. After a full minute he let go, and Ichigo crashed into the radio tower (what was left of it) from earlier.

"**Believe what you will, but it's impossible to attack _completely_ without thinking,**" Savage Thinker pointed out. "**No matter how angry you are, you will always think of how you're going to kill your enemy. You know I'm right.**"

Ichigo had to acknowledge he was, but luckily, he saw something like this coming. Time for Plan B.

"Hey, Savage Thinker," Ichigo called out, pulling himself out of the wreckage.

"**What?**"

"You said you could read the minds of humans and soul reapers. What about Hollows?"

"**Why would I need the ability to read the minds of Hollows? There's no point.**"

"Exactly what I needed to hear."

_**He's blocking his thoughts again**_, ST thought. _**I can't tell what he's**_-

Ichigo, gathering up all his speed, hurtled himself right into Savage Thinker, making them both go straight across the night sky. And the substitute soul reaper went right on pushing, not letting up or slowing down once.

"**What the hell!**" ST screamed.

Ichigo scowled. "You can't read minds of Hollows, right?" He raised a hand to his head, black reshi crackling at his fingertips. "That works for me just fine."

He made a ripping motion across his face, and there was suddenly a white mask covering his features. It resembled a skull, with red stripes on the left side curling above and below the left eyehole. A Hollow mask.

Savage Thinker's eyes opened wide.

"**Tell me,**" Ichigo said. His voice had changed. It sounded as if two voices spoke at once, all echo-y and strange. "**Have you ever heard of the Vizards?**"

* * *

"Dang it, I can't see what's happening!" Nobuki huffed. "They went behind that building and now they're leaving city limits! Man, it's times like these I wish we could use shunpo." He began to run in the direction of the battle. "Let's go, Yuki. If we don't leave now we'll never catch up."

Yuki did not follow. She just stood there, looking thoughtful.

"Yuki?"

"... Is it just me, or did Kurosaki's spiritual pressure become very Hollow-like just now?"

"It's just you," Nobuki assured her. "I didn't feel any change at all. Now, come on! We're burning moonlight just sitting here."

Yuki still wasn't sure. She made mental note to look more into it later, and followed behind Nobuki.

* * *

Ichigo kept pushing Savage Thinker farther and farther, soon leaving Karuizawa behind all together. It wasn't long before they landed (read- went plowing into the earth below) in a large forested area, far away from any civilization.

Ichigo remembered the time limit on his mask, and dispersed it before it broke. He kept an eye focused on ST, who was scrambling away from the young soul reaper as fast as he could. Ichigo rested his sword over his shoulders and asked, "So, what did you think of that?"

"**Y-you have Hollow powers?**" Savage Thinker stuttered. "**But how?**"

Ichigo tiredly rubbed his neck. "You know, that's a really long story that I don't feel like telling you. But I assume you couldn't read my mind just now?"

Savage Thinker hadn't, and that scared him. Genuinely, truly terrified him. He was beginning to think that maybe he was in over his head. But there was no way he was letting this freak know that.

"**W-who cares?**" Savage Thinker shouted, trying to wave away Ichigo's suspicions. "**You think j-just because you pulled out a new trick y-you can beat me?**"

"Well, you keep stuttering, so I know you're at least scared."

"**Me? Scared of a pathetic soul reaper?**" Savage Thinker's eyes glowed dangerously. "**QUIT BEING SO ARROGANT, YOU INSECT!**"

In his rage and fear, ST savagely (no pun intended) ripped off his own razor-wing, wielding it like a sword. Howling, he charged forward with the murderous intent to chop Ichigo into little bloody pieces.

It was just now Ichigo realized the heaviness in the air was gone, and he could clearly sense ST's reiatsu. He really wasn't that strong after all.

Ichigo pulled his mask back over his face, and_ roared_.

"_**GETSUGA TENSHO!**_"

From up above, a large portion of the forest disappeared in a tide black and red energy.

From down below, a path of destruction lay before Ichigo, and it did not look pretty. Trees were knocked over and a huge crevasse had been dug into the ground. It was a miracle nothing was on fire. As for ST, his discarded wing lay in the dirt, already turning into reshi. The wing's owner was once again absent, hopefully for good this time around.

Ichigo dissolved his mask. "_Maybe_ I over did it..."

He felt stabbing pain all over his body, immediately fell to his knees, clutching his chest. In the adrenaline rush from the battle, he'd forgotten all about his injuries. And that he was still bleeding profusely.

"I don't sense Thinker anymore," he grunted to himself. "Either he's finally dead... or he escaped. Either way, I don't think I'll be hearing from him for awhile. But I can't worry about myself right now. I left Rukia... back in Karuizawa.

In a flash of shunpo, he was gone, leaving behind only the decimated woods.

* * *

With Kurosaki gone, Nobuki proceeded to slow clap and shot Yuki a triumphant expression.

"Any final comments?"

He and Yuki were able to catch the last few minutes of the battle. Nobuki had no idea what had given Kurosaki such power boost, but that had been some _insane_ spiritual pressure right there.

Yuki swallowed. Her mouth felt dry. "His reiatsu... it's very strong. Oddly similar to a Hollow, but I can sense now he's stronger than most captains."

Nobuki gave her a 'keep going' gesture.

"If he's an unseated officer, has this much power, mastered_ bankai_, and truly does remember his past life..." She bit her lip. "You could be right. Ichigo Kurosaki may very well be a Mnemosyne."

"And I repeat what I said earlier. I _to-tal-ly_ told you so."

Yuki hated it when Nobuki was actually correct, but there was no helping it. Though, it made her sick to her stomach to think of another Mnemosyne running around, that another life had been completely ruined.

"He still retains _some_ control, so he's clearly in the early stages. It's a miracle he mastered bankai with his fluctuating energy." Nobuki said as he crossed his arms. This was a rare moment of seriousness for him. "That's what bugging me the most. You think the Soul Society weaponized him?"

"I wouldn't put it beneath them. We'll keep the possibility open."

"You do know what needs to be done, right?"

Yuki nodded. There was nothing else they could do. "We need to report this to Kaoru right away. He'll definitely want to know if another Mnemosyne has been created."

Nobuki yawned. "But not tonight. It's really late, and you know how Kaoru gets if we try to wake him when he's trying to sleep." He shuddered at the memory.

"Of course. Let's go home."

* * *

"Rukia? Rukia!"

Rukia stirred. She was pressed against someone's chest, her ear directly over their heartbeat. It was nice, soothing beat.

"Rukia, wake up!"

For the second time that night, Rukia's eyelids slowly opened, only this time she awoke to Ichigo's haggard features.

"Ichigo..."

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"Idiot, that's my line." She finally noticed his injuries. His blood was all over her shihakusho. "Ichigo, your wounds! Savage Thinker-"

"Turned me into a shish-kabob, I know," Ichigo finished for her. He helped her stand. "But he's gone now. I'm not sure if I actually killed him but I'll take any victory I can at this point. So what happened to you? I found you in a completely different spot than where I left you."

Rukia closed her eyes. She tried to remember what occurred, but everything was fuzzy.

"I remember waking up and seeing Savage Thinker impale you. I tried to come to your aid..." She shook her head. "Everything's a blank after that. But I think I fought someone. A human woman, I believe."

"A human woman who was able to see you and knock you out?" Ichigo asked. "Maybe she was one of those Mnemosyne people Thinker was talking about."

"It's possible, but we'll have to look into it later." She heard sirens in the distance. "The human authorities are arriving. We need to return to the hotel."

"Right," Ichigo agreed. He took a single step forward, and collapsed.

Rukia was instantly at his side. "Ichigo!"

His whole body was limp and his eyes were shut tight. Ichigo had finally passed out from his severe blood loss. His bankai coat faded away into his normal uniform, while his long sword morphed back into its cleaver-like state.

Rukia gulped. Renji once told her a soul reaper's bankai only disappeared without the soul reaper's permission if their time of death was near.

"Ichigo, hold on! I'll get you to Orihime, so please, just stay alive! Ichigo!"

Her cries went unheard. At the moment, Ichigo only knew oblivion.

* * *

_**Much, Much Later that Night**_

The space in the room rippled, and Savage Thinker fell into existence, spilling unceremoniously to the floor.

"**Phew,**" he sighed with relief. He turned onto his back. "**That was a close one. If I hadn't opened that Garganta when I did, I'd be a goner**." He slammed his fist into the ground. "**Damn that Kurosaki! Next time I see him, I'll tear his head off and use it as a bowling ball!**"

_Tap. Tap. Tap. _The sound of footsteps.

"A lovely image, but I'm afraid you won't have that chance."

Savage Thinker leaned his head back to catch a glimpse of the speaker, who was now standing directly above him. If he had a heart, it would have skipped a beat.

"**M-Master!**" he gasped. "**You're here?**"

She pretended to think about that. "Well, this _is _my home base, so..."

"**Sorry, Master. Stupid question.**"

"Aren't all your questions stupid?" someone condescendingly snorted from behind the Master. "You are a Hollow after all."

Savage Thinker growled. It was _him_ again. That jerk in the white hood.

"Now now, be nice," the Master scolded gently. "It's not the Hollows' fault they have a limited intelligence. That's just the way they are. So, Savage Thinker, care to tell me what happened? You wouldn't be bleeding on my nice clean floor missing your wing, tail, and half your _Shikō Hōseki_ if nothing happened."

"Didn't I_ just_ tell you?" the Jerk whined.

The Master shushed him.

"**Well, you see... I ran into these two soul reapers, and decided it might be a good idea to practice my powers on them,**" Savage Thinker explained. "**But one of them kicked my butt.**"

The Master nodded, placing a hand under her chin. "I see. You deviated from your assignment and allowed yourself to be defeated by a soul reaper. I'm disappointed."

She was? If he had a heart, it would be in pain. "**B-but Master, this soul reaper was different! He had Hollow mask and a strange bankai!**"

"Bankai? Was he a captain?"

"**I-I don't think so.**"

The Master shrugged. "Nonetheless, I afraid I cannot tolerate failure or disobedience. You'll have to be exterminated."

She was upset with him. He deserved everything she did to him. "**I accept my punishment. Exorcise my soul with your zanpakuto, and send me to the Soul Society.**"

Her hand rested on said zanpakuto. "You misunderstand me. I will not be the one killing you."

"**You won't? Then who?**"

The Master glanced at the Jerk. "Do it."

He grinned madly. "With pleasure."

Horror seized Savage Thinker's body. "**Master, no! If he kills me I'll... I'll cease to exist!**"

"That's really not my problem."

The Jerk stepped down on the terrified Hollow's chest and held out his wrist. Around it was a thin chain bracelet with a single charm dangling from it. The charm flashed blue, and he now held an ornate white bow.

The Jerk drew back the string, forming a glowing arrow of reshi between his fingers. Aiming directly for ST's mask, he smiled snidely. "Don't worry. This'll only hurt for a second."

"**Master, please!**" Savage Thinker begged. "**Haven't I served you well all this time? Please, give me another chance!**"

He released the arrow. Savage Thinker spoke no more.

The Master sighed, and crossed her arms. "What a setback. I had hoped Savage Thinker would be the last model. Looks like it's back to the drawing board."

The archer's bow disappeared and he put his hands on his hips. "I don't see why we even need to use the Hollows anyway. They're pretty useless, and we still haven't worked out that ooze problem. It's starting to creep me out."

"I don't recall asking for your opinion."

"Too bad, you got it anyway. So, have you taken any consideration into my report?"

"Yes, I have." She pointed her index and middle fingers at the archer. "_Kioku No. 4: Hyoji._"

Several glowing screens materialized around her companion, relaying scenes from Savage Thinker's battle with the mysterious soul reaper.

"Ichigo Kurosaki is certainly interesting," she said, gazing upon the screens. She touched one displaying Ichigo in his Hollow mask. "He may be just what we need to draw out the Mnemosyne."

* * *

**Dun, dun, dun! Details abounds!**

**Terms**

_Reshi-_ spirit particles.

_Shihakusho-_ The soul reaper uniform.

_Garganta-_ Spanish for "Throat." Similar to the Senkaimon, Hollows use this portal to get from Hueco Mundo (Hollow World) to Earth and, in some cases, the Soul Society. The one Savage Thinker probably used was a Kumon, or "Air Gate", a lesser garganta.

_Hakuda-_ Translates as "Hand-to-Hand Combat." This is a fighting style soul reapers use. It has a wide variety of techniques.

**Words**

_Salvaje Suprema Cero-_ Supreme Savage Cero.

_Hakufuku-_ Translates as "White Crawl." This is a Bakudo technique that causes the victim to see an illusion of falling purple cherry blossoms, and then causes them to pass out. When they wake, they have little or no memory of what happened. Momo Hinamori once used this during the Soul Society Arc.

_Gatoringu Jidanda_- Translates as "Gatling Mad-Stomping." It is a Hakuda technique that has the user do multiple foot stomps on the target's face. Hiyori Sarugaki used this during Ichigo's training.

_Hyoji-_ Japanese word meaning "Display."

_Shikō Hōseki_- Japanese for "Thought Jewel." This was the jewel on Savage Thinker's head.


	9. Karuizawa Arc Part 5

**I bet you're all wondering who that Quincy at the end of the previous chapter was. Well, I'm telling you now it's neither Uryu or Ryuken. But if anybody's thinking "They're the Last Quincy! How can there be more?", I have one word for you.**

**Vandenreich.**

**So there's the possibility there are more than just two Quincy. (Is Quincy already plural? I can't really tell.) And I'm not saying this guy is with the Vandenreich. That was just an example.**

**Oh, and I went back and made some edits to the previous chapters. I decided Ichigo 'relaxing" on this trip was stupid. Now, the point of coming to Karuizawa was to get him to work off his stress and anxiety about the upcoming Winter War. This will be the last chapter this factor is addressed. It may pop up later, but I make no promises.**

**Anywho, on with the story!**

* * *

Ichigo opened his eyes, gazing at the beige-colored ceiling. He was lying in a bed.

_Where am I_? he thought. _The last thing I remember is blacking out. What happened_? He sat up, and immediately winced. His wounds were all gone but he was still magnificently sore. He felt as if he went a dozen rounds with a Hollow on mind-altering steroids.

Oh, wait. That actually happened.

"Ichigo!"

Chad and Uryu approached the bed. The former wore a concerned expression, while the latter seemed apathetic. But even he couldn't hide the gleam of worry in his eyes.

"Chad? Uryu?" Ichigo rolled his shoulder, trying to work out some of the soreness. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"You're back in the hotel room, obviously," Uryu answered, pushing his glasses up. "As for what's going on, you don't remember almost getting torn to pieces last night?"

"No,_ that_ I remember. I'm just wondering what went on afterwards."

"Rukia returned here with you as fast as she could," Chad began to explain. "You were half dead and she was badly injured herself. Uryu ran across the hall and collected Orihime so she could heal you. Rukia wouldn't even let her come near her until she was completely done with you."

"Once you were all fixed up, we put you back in your body and Orihime went on to heal Rukia," Uryu added.

"Is Rukia alright?"

"She's perfectly fine. She's back in her room with Orihime, who's currently sleeping off using so much spirit energy to heal the two of you."

"That's good," Ichigo sighed with relief. "Orihime's pretty amazing. Remind me to thank her later."

Uryu twitched. Idiot. She deserved better.

"Ichigo," Chad interrupted. "What exactly happened last night? Rukia was so upset before she really didn't give us many details."

Ichigo exhaled loudly, but slowly recounted the events of the previous evening. Everything from having difficulty sensing reiatsu to going bankai to ripping apart the forest. He earned some amused looks at the mention of ST's issues about losing his left arm, and agitated ones when he sheepishly recalled being skewered. Uryu spoke up at during that part to point out Rukia said he was lucky his organs hadn't fallen out from that wound. Ichigo replied by yelling at him to shut up and pay attention. When he came to the subject of the Mnemosyne...

"The nemo-what?" Chad asked.

"That's what I said," Ichigo admitted. "Savage Thinker kept saying he was searching for these 'Mnemosyne.' Rukia-"

"Ichigo!"

Speak of the devil. Rukia burst into the room, Orihime not far behind.

"Good morning, everyone!" Orihime greeted cheerfully. "Sorry for interrupting, but Uryu gave me your room key, so we just let ourselves in. I hope you don't mind."

Ichigo and the others assured her it was fine, and gestured the girls to sit on the beds. Uryu and Chad remained standing.

"Rukia, how are you holding up?" Ichigo asked his comrade.

"_I'm_ fine," Rukia said crossly. "My injuries were minor compared to what you were dealt."

He shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to ask."

Rukia slapped him upside the head.

"OW!"

"Stupid idiot! Worry about yourself for a change!"

"Damn it, you crazy midget! You nearly got killed, so excuse me for worrying!"

"_I_ nearly got killed? Most of your blood was spilled on the road! I fail to see how that screams perfect health!"

"Stop fighting!" Orihime yelped frantically, waving her hands back and forth. "I only just healed your wounds! I don't want to have to heal any more!"

Ichigo and Rukia shot each bitter stares, but ceased their squabbling. Rukia stomped over to the other side of the room and planted herself on the dresser. Ichigo took this chance to get out from under the covers and position himself crosslegged on his bed.

Ichigo coughed into his hand. "Anyway, where was I? The Mnemosyne, right? Orihime, did Rukia fill you in?"

She nodded. "She gave me some of the details, so you can just pick up where you left off."

"Okay. Thanks, by the way, for patching us up."

Orihime gave him a warm smile. "It was my pleasure."

"They're called the Mnemosyne, correct?" Uryu interrupted the exchange. "I've heard that word before."

"You have?" Rukia asked.

"Yes. In Greek mythology, Mnemosyne was a goddess who basically was the living embodiment of memory. She was also the mother of the nine Muses, Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. 'Mnemosyne' is where we get the word 'mnemonic', meaning to assist a memory. As for these people Thinker was looking for, if they're related to the Quincy, I've never heard of them."

Everyone stared at Uryu in blank-faced awe.

"What?" Uryu felt slightly uncomfortable. "I don't spend all my time fighting Hollows and sewing."

"Going off the name, the Mnemosyne have something to do with memory?" Chad summarized.

"Or the mind in general, seeing as Savage Thinker was telepathic and he wanted to find them so badly," Ichigo added.

"Let's go over what we know so far," Rukia suggested. "Hollows have been coming to Karuizawa in search of these 'Mnemosyne.' The Mnemosyne are most likely humans with no spirit energy, but are fully capable of seeing and killing these Hollows. I'm pretty sure I fought one. The woman who attacked me had no spirit energy, and she managed to knock me unconscious, though I can't exactly recall how.

"And speaking of spirit energy, something or someone in this town is disrupting the flow of spirit energy, making it impossible, or at least extremely difficult, to detect spiritual pressures. That would explain why it took the soul reapers who were here originally here before us so long to come up with any information on the disturbances. Did I forget anything?"

"What about Savage Thinker's 'master?'"

"Oh, right. Thanks Ichigo. Savage Thinker claimed he didn't work for Aizen. He said he worked for a master far greater than him. Whoever this master is, he-"

"She," Ichigo interrupted. "Thinker kept referring to his master as a 'she.'"

"_She_ is clearly a threat," Rukia corrected herself, "if she is able to alter a Hollow's power in such a way. The Soul Society would be in big trouble if Hollows knew what we were thinking during the course of a battle."

"And don't forget the jewel that was on his mask," Ichigo added. "Thinker said she created it to control his energy input. While you were unconscious, he tore half of it off. His form changed and his powers grew strong enough to counter my bankai. If he had torn the rest of it off, I might've died."

"That's explains how you got yourself turned into a human pincushion," Uryu muttered under his breath.

"Hey, shut up!" Ichigo barked angrily, only to throw a stabbing pain into ribs for his trouble. He groaned and held his chest.

Orihime instantly went into mother hen mode and began fluttering around him, asking if he needed healing or food or anything. Ichigo waved her off, insisting he was fine, just still a little achy. She didn't look sure, but she obliged and reluctantly reclaimed her seat.

Chad crossed his arms. "What do we do now?"

That was an excellent question.

"Well, I for one still have to make my report," Rukia sighed, hopping off the dresser and pulling out her soul pager. "My superiors will definitely want to know about this." She looked up from the pager's tiny screen. "As for everything else, we can't really take action without more information. For now, we'll keep investigating." Rukia turned towards Ichigo. "Well, we wanted something to get your mind off the Winter War. Looks like we got it."

Ichigo twirled his finger in a circle sarcastically. "Yippee."

"Hey, Orihime, Rukia!" Tatsuki's shout came from the outside hallway. "You in there? Everyone else is heading down to breakfast!"

"Coming!" Orihime called back. To Ichigo, she said, "What do you say? Feel up for some breakfast?"

"You guys can go on ahead," Ichigo insisted. "I still have to get dressed and everything."

It took a little more prodding from the young Vizard, but he soon convinced everyone he would be fine and would catch up with them once he was ready for the day. Then one by one, his friends filed out of the hotel room and joined Tatsuki in the hall. Rukia was the last to leave.

"Rukia," Ichigo called out.

She stopped in the doorway. "Yes?"

_Rukia returned here with you as fast as she could._

"... Thank you."

"Stupid Strawberry. We're comrades. Would you expect any less of me?" With that being said, Rukia shut the door behind her. She didn't have to be told what she was being thanked for. She always knew.

Ichigo released a sigh and flopped back down on to his bed. Rukia had been badly wounded herself last night, but she was able to get Ichigo to Orihime before he bled to death. There was no excuse for getting that injured. He had been careless, plain and simple, and his best friend ended up paying for it as well. He remembered what Savage Thinker had said, how he was_ that_ kind of guy. Ichigo didn't care if he got hurt, but _nobody_ hurt his friends and got away with it. But how could he keep his friends from getting hurt if he was on the verge of dying from his own injuries? It was an endless loop Ichigo had no intention of getting caught in.

Vacation time was over. Things were going to get serious, very soon.

* * *

_**Elsewhere...**_

He stood in front of the sliding paper door, putting off his imminent demise as long as possible. Nobuki knew he had said they would tell Kaoru first thing in the morning, but the minute he learned they had not only been gone all day without telling anyone, but also failed to call in about one of the telepathic Hollows? Nobuki's ears would ring for a week and he'd be tasting ozone for the next month. Again.

"Maybe we should wait on this..." Nobuki said, bowing his head dejectedly.

"Do it or don't," Yuki yawned, coming up behind him and pushing him out of the way. "I personally don't care."

Nobuki looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Hey, are you okay? You seem a little out of it."

"Well, I _did_ stay up to all hours last night."

"I thought ninjas were nocturnal."

"That's stereotyping. Now, be a man and quit stalling."

Easy for Yuki to say. She usually never did anything wrong, so Kaoru would be easier on her than he would on Nobuki. Nobuki sighed. Maybe choosing Yuki as his partner in crime hadn't been the greatest of ideas. True, she was stealthy and had ideal skills for spying on Kurosaki, but he neglected to remember that under her stoic appearance, Yuki made it no secret that she wasn't Nobuki's biggest fan. (Though she did her best to try and get over it. Kaoru's policy was "We're all in the same boat, and there's no room for petty emotions on that boat. If you can't like each other, then at least learn tolerate one another.") Knowing her, she'd pin all the blame on him, claiming the idea had been entirely his.

Okay, it _had,_ but he sure as heck didn't want Kaoru knowing that. Yuki went along with it, so she should be sharing the blame.

"Nobuki, I think Master Kaoru would like to know our findings in _this_ century," Yuki deadpanned.

Oops. Had he been staring off into space the entire time? Exhaling an anxious breath, Nobuki slid the door open.

"Yo, boss man!" he called out. "Can we talk to you?"

A sword planted itself an inch from Nobuki's foot. Nobuki jumped into Yuki's arms with a startled yelp. Yuki gave him a look, and then tossed him unceremoniously into the grass.

The sword's owner walked over and yanked it out of the porch. "_Don't_ call me boss man, Nobuki."

Nobuki stared up at from his place on the ground. He rubbed his neck nervously. "Now come on, boss. Was that really necessary?"

Kaoru glowered down at him, sheathing his sword at his hip. "For you? Yes."

Kaoru was a rather short, thin young man, no more than five-foot-five, appearing to be 19 or 20 years old. He had straight, somewhat messy brown hair that fell slightly past his broad shoulders, and chin-length bangs framing the right side of his face. His eyes were an unusual shade of green. Not a jade color, like Yuki's, but more like a deep forest green. He had single gold hoop pierced on his left ear. This morning, since he was training, Kaoru was in full kendo uniform, minus the face mask. (And surrounded by cut up bundles of hay.)

His face had always been somewhat unnerving to Nobuki, not due to the strange tattoos around his eyes (Kaoru, some years ago, had tattooed bright green shapes around his eyes. They started from the outside edges of his eyelids, then curved sharply down his cheek bones as well as moving slightly on to his bottom eyelids), but because Kaoru had always oddly effeminate (yet totally terrifying when he was angry) facial features. Most days, Kaoru was just downright androgynous. It didn't help his voice sounded like he hadn't quite hit puberty yet. His voice sounded like a girl's most of the time. A scowly, gruff girl, but a girl nonetheless.

"Sorry for the interruption, Master Kaoru," Yuki said, stepping out on to the forest-surrounded backyard. She bowed slightly. "But we have something we need to tell you about."

Kaoru crossed his arms. "One, don't call me Master Kaoru either. Two, does it have to do with you two being missing all day yesterday?"

Dang it.

"You noticed?" Nobuki squeaked.

"Of course I did._ You_ never came back from your cart, and I heard you both come home late last night. You made quite a bit of noise."

"That was Nobuki," Yuki said coolly, straightening out. "He tripped over a lamp. Sorry if we woke you up, though."

Kaoru waved it off. "Don't worry about it. I was already awake anyway. So, I assume you have an explanation, and it had better be a good one."

Yuki gave Nobuki a passive look that said _this one's all yours, bro_.

Traitor, Though it was not entirely unexpected. Nobuki stood up and began his explanation. "Okay, it started the other day when I opened my cart up, same as usual. This time I set up shop near the Botanical Gardens, you know, because it's easier to sense spiritual pressure there. Then out of nowhere, a girl comes and goes gushing over an item I have on display. And wouldn't you know it, it was Rukia Kuchiki in a gigai."

At the name 'Kuchiki', Kaoru visibly stiffened. "Rukia Kuchiki? You mean Captain Kuchiki's younger sister?"

"Unless you know anyone else named Rukia Kuchiki," Nobuki shrugged.

Kaoru regained his composure, and began fingering the hilt of his _tachi_. "Did she... recognize you?"

"Considering I never actually_ met_ her before yesterday, no. Anyway, then up behind her come four teenagers. One is this guy with orange hair who was also clearly a soul reaper in a gigai. The other three had high reiatsu, but I'm not quite sure if they were soul reapers or not. But that's not important. The guy, who we later found out is named Ichigo Kurosaki-"

"_Ichigo_? Who in their right mind names their kid 'strawberry?'"

"Do you want my explanation or not?"

"Sorry. Continue."

Nobuki cleared his throat and did just that. "Where was I? Oh right, Ichigo Kurosaki. It took me a few minutes, but I soon realized I recognized this kid. I had met him about 10 years ago, when he was still alive and just a child. And get this; he _remembered_ that trip. He even remembered I sold his dad counterfeit baseball tickets!"

Kaoru's eyes sparked, and he scowled. "Don't even joke about this, Nobuki."

"I'm not, I swear!" Nobuki promised, making a 'take it easy' gesture. "So, a guy who's a soul reaper, has strong reiatsu, and just might have memories of his past? Naturally I had to check it out. That's when I called Yuki and told her to meet me at my stand."

"I arrived a half hour later and we began following Kurosaki around over the course of his day," Yuki added.

Nobuki grinned. Time for some payback. "We almost got caught on one occasion."

"We did not!" Yuki growled at the sight of Kaoru's alarmed expression. "Kurosaki did get a little suspicious at one point, but I assure you he never realized he was being tailed."

The alarm was replaced with vague relief, and Kaoru motioned for them to proceed with their story.

"Right," Nobuki went on. "We followed the kid around for the entire day. He and Kuchiki seem to be posing as high school students on a field trip. I betcha the R and D guys began to notice a lot of Hollows have been showing up in town, and somebody who was not Karuizawa's assigned soul reaper has been killing them. We learned the two of them are here to investigate. I just thought you should be aware of that." He paused, and Kaoru nodded, telling him to continue. "The whole observation we did didn't get interesting until nightfall. That was when Kurosaki and Kuchiki exited their gigai and took to the city skies, where they were soon attacked by one of those telepathic Hollows-"

"WHAT?!" Kaoru shot forward and lifted Nobuki up by his shirt, shoving him against a tree. "Are you _insane_?! Why didn't you call us?!"

You know, there was something really humiliating about being lifted by someone who was 4 inches shorter than you. Nobuki tried to loosen his leader's grip. "Geez, calm down! I-"

"It took five of our people to kill _one_ of those monsters!" Kaoru interrupted, his face darkened with rage. "And you let two normal soul reapers take one on? They could've died! _You_ could've died! How could you be so irresponsible and _stupid_?!"

Yuki placed a hand on Kaoru's shoulder. "Master Kaoru."

"_What_!"

"Look up."

The sky had grown dark, while black clouds loomed threateningly overhead. Kaoru's eyes widened, and he immediately dropped Nobuki. As soon as he did, the clouds dispersed and the sky lightened again.

Kaoru stared at his hand intently. "Damn, that's not supposed to happen. I'm going to have to talk to Emiko about the quality of her work..."

"Look, boss, I know you're angry I didn't tell you about the Hollow-" Nobuki started, pulling himself off the ground for the second time that morning.

"I'm not angry," Kaoru sighed, rubbing his temple. "Any more. But what got me mad in the first place was you knew how dangerous those Hollows were, and deliberately didn't contact us all for the sake of your 'observation.' I hope for _your_ sakes Miss Kuchiki and this Kurosaki kid didn't get themselves killed."

"They were fine," Yuki said. _Sort of_. "In fact, Kurosaki ended up defeating the Hollow all by himself."

Kaoru stopped rubbing. "Pardon?"

"You heard her!" Nobuki confirmed enthusiastically. "It was amazing! Kurosaki had some crazy power in him, let me tell ya. He had this move called Getsuga Tensho where he slashed the air with his zanpakuto and released a wave of energy. And after Rukia got knocked out, he went totally ballistic and activated his bankai!"

"Bankai? Really? You sure he wasn't a captain or something?"

"He didn't wear the white haori, so yes, I'm sure. His bankai made him really fast and really strong. Plus, his reiatsu turned black. Black! Who in the world has black reiatsu?"

"Apparently he does," Yuki deadpanned. She turned to her leader. "Master Kaoru, I observed Kurosaki the entire time, and I will admit, his power was overwhelming. Eventually, he took the fight outside of Karuizawa and I finally got a clear feel of his spiritual pressure. What I felt..." She hugged her arms. "That boy has no control whatsoever. His reiatsu is impossibly strong, stronger than most captains. I wasn't even up close and I felt like I was choking. It was crushing in on me, pressing, getting tighter and tighter and tighter..."

Yuki fell to her knees, hugging herself. Her eyes were wide with terror.

"Yuki? Hey, Yuki, snap out of it!" Kaoru demanded, getting down to her level and shaking her shoulders. "Yuki!"

Yuki came to. "Huh? I-I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Kaoru helped her up, leading her over to the porch and then making her sit down. "We almost lost you there for a moment. Are you alright?"

Yuki cursed herself. How could she show such weakness? "I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"I'm the leader," Kaoru said with a half smile. He sat down next to her. "It's my job to worry."

Yuki returned the smile, pulling her hood up over her head.

"I think it'd be in everyone's best interest if I finished the the story," Nobuki stated, positioning himself in front of the two. "Sound good?"

Kaoru nodded. "Of course. "

"Okay, Kurosaki took the Hollow outside of Karuizawa, and ended the battle. I don't know if he actually killed it or not, but he definitely sent it packing. The point of letting the kid fight it was to get an idea of how powerful he was. And I have to say that this kid is on whole new levels of badass. My conclusion? Kurosaki is wicked powerful, has achieved bankai, and remembers his past to boot?" Nobuki crossed his arms. "I think we've found ourselves a new Mnemosyne."

Kaoru frowned and narrowed his eyes.

"He seems to be in the early stages at best, and don't ask me how he managed to get bankai with his energy fluctuating." Nobuki was beginning to look pretty excited. "Yuki and I think the Soul Society may have weaponized him or something. But I think Kurosaki would be better off with us, since we could teach him the necessary control tactics we use. I suggest we approach him today or tomorrow, given-"

"No."

Nobuki stopped. "Excuse me?"

"I said no," Kaoru repeated. "I don't want you going anywhere near this guy."

"Oh, why _not_?" Nobuki whined bitterly.

"I've considered your 'explanation' and found multiple details wrong with your hypothesis about Mr. Kurosaki," Kaoru clarified. "For starters, you said you met him when he was alive ten years ago, as a little kid? If he really died and went on to the Soul Society, why does he now look like a teenager only ten years later? No one with substantial spirit energy ages that fast."

Nobuki deflated a little. "Well I-"

Kaoru was now standing, and somehow looming over him despite being physically shorter. "For that matter, it takes six years to get through the Academy. You really think they'd let a soul reaper with only 4 years of duty under his belt go into the world of the living? You need ten years done before they let you do that."

"He could have been a prodigy, like Captain-"

"And say you did approach him and discovered you were wrong? Who's to say he won't realize who we _really_ are and report us to the Central 46? Do you _want_ to go to jail?"

"Now hold on a second!" Nobuki snapped. "You don't know for sure that would actually happen! Think about it, we escaped_ 20_ years ago, and nobody's come after us! Emiko's theory-"

"-Is just that. A _theory_," Kaoru sighed tiredly, "without definite proof. Maybe if you could actually prove he remembered his past, things would be different. But you can't, can you?"

Nobuki didn't meet his gaze.

Kaoru turned away and opened the sliding door. "Just let this one go, Nobuki. And I don't want to hear about you going ahead and meeting Kurosaki. That's an order."

He stepped inside, and slammed the door shut. The silence that followed was deafening. Kaoru had that kind of effect on people.

Yuki lowered her hood. "That went well."

Nobuki glared at her. "Shut up, Yuki." He groaned and scratched his head. "Kaoru is a fool. He knows I wouldn't even have brought this up if I wasn't serious. He's just being a stubborn mule."

"Hey, that rhymed!"

Nobuki jumped about foot in there at the sudden new voice. When he landed, and turned around and snarled, "_Tobikuma_..."

The new arrival laughed. "Sorry about that. Couldn't resist."

Nobuki turned his anger towards Yuki. "Why didn't you _tell_ me he was right behind me?"

Yuki stifled a chuckle. "I couldn't resist either."

Nobuki ground his teeth together.

"So, Kaoru sounded pretty mad," Tobikuma commented, placing his hands in his pockets. "What was that all about?"

Tobikuma was a tall, fit young man appearing to be in his mid-20s, with short black hair and brown eyes. Long bangs fell over his left eye. He wore a longsleeved French blue button-down shirt, gray slacks, and brown loafers. Over his eyes were a pair of rectangular wire-framed glasses, and over his shoulder was a tan messenger bag.

"That is none of your business, Tobikuma," Nobuki scowled. "Get lost."

Tobikuma, however, only heard what he wanted to hear. "Does it have to do with you guys being out all night?"

"Seriously?!" Nobuki was completely exasperated. "Is there anyone who_ doesn't_ know we were gone yesterday?"

He pretended to think about it. "I don't think Go noticed, but that's not saying much. Why, is there a reason you don't want anyone to know? I bet you want to hide the fact you and Yuki had an all night lover's escapade!"

Yuki bristled. Nobuki's face turned bright red. "OH HELL NO!"

"Don't deny it!" Tobikuma said cheerfully. He closed his eyes, placed one hand over his heart, and spread the other arm out with flourish. "Your forbidden romance has inspired me! My next masterpiece will be dedicated to your love, and I will call it 'The Love Ninja of Karuizawa!'"

"Damn it, Tobikuma!" Nobuki launched himself into the air, meaning to falcon kick the constant thorn in his side. "Don't even_ think_ about writing us into one of your creepy fanfictions!"

Tobikuma opened his eyes, and immediately caught Nobuki by the ankle. He then gripped the knee with his free hand, threw Nobuki up into the air, and spin-kicked him in the stomach as he came down. All in the span of 5 seconds. Nobuki went sailing through the paper doors, thoroughly smashing them to pieces.

Tobikuma smirked and dusted off his hands. "I wouldn't try that again if I were you."

Nobuki scrambled to his feet, pushing wood scraps off his body. "You know what? I am not in the mood to deal with you, you moron! Now, if you'll excuse me." He held his stomach painfully. "I'm going to find Megumi and ask him if I have internal bleeding."

Nobuki staggered inside, leaving Yuki and Tobikuma alone.

Yuki got up from her seat and joined Tobikuma by his side. "So... how long were you eavesdropping on our conversation with Kaoru?"

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "The entire time. But messing with Nobuki's head was _way_ too fun to pass up."

"I'll say. You play the role of the dunce quite well."

"I've always been a pretty good actor." His face became serious with a hint of skepticism. "So, you and Nobuki really think you've found a new Mnemosyne?"

Yuki absently twirled a lock of hair. "I really don't know anymore, in all honesty. Master Kaoru did bring up a lot of points that I never even thought of. That I_ should_ have thought of. But I will admit, it'd be nice to know if we were right or not."

Tobikuma nodded. "Fair enough." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll help."

Had she heard that correctly?

"I'm sorry, but could you clarify that for me?" Yuki asked.

"I'll help you find out if this Kurosaki kid is a Mnemosyne or not," Tobikuma explained, stepping up on to the porch. "As our little group's scribe, it's my job to get this kind of information down for future reference. That's why I listened in."

It was Yuki's turn to look skeptical. "And to get material for your fanfictions."

"I will neither deny nor confirm that observation," Tobikuma replied with a dismissive shrug. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and send some our people out and test the boy as well as gather data. We still need to learn about whoever's sending those psychic Hollows, after all."

"You don't have the authority give orders." Part of Yuki did not like where this was headed.

"Don't I?" Tobikuma pushed up his glasses, smiling knowingly. "I may not hold a leadership position like Kaoru or Abasi, but there isn't a single person here who has forgotten my former rank. Whether Kaoru likes it or not, I_ do_ hold authority over the Mnemosyne."

Yuki felt herself break into a sweat. What was with this guy? She was usually excellent at reading people, but even after spending time with Tobikuma for the last 20 years, he was still about as readable as a book doused in concrete. He was a variable she could not predict, and she had been trained to be wary of such variables. Tobikuma made Yuki nervous beyond belief.

Tobikuma relaxed, his grin more playful and easy-going. "That being said, I think I'll send Naomi on defense, Kane on offence, and Mikomi on barrier duty. Sound good to you?"

Yuki shook herself out of her stupor. "Um, sure, that's fine. But won't you get into trouble with Master Kaoru for doing this?"

"Are you kidding?" Tobikuma said jovially. "I've been friends with that guy for _years_. He couldn't stay mad at me even if he tried!"

"If you say so," Yuki sweatdropped.

"I do say so!" Tobikuma finally noticed the battered remains of the door. "Er, I should probably get that fixed. Yeah, I'll get right on that. We'll iron out the final details later."

Yuki nodded. "Alright then."

He turned to leave, paused, then quickly looked back. "And for the record, my fanfictions are _not_ creepy."

He went inside.

Once she was sure Tobikuma was out of earshot, Yuki rolled her eyes and muttered, "Apparently _somebody_ has forgotten his Lemon phase."

Yuki thought about she had just said, then looked back on her moment of weakness from earlier. She downcast her eyes.

Forgetting things, huh?

If only they could.

* * *

Kaoru stepped into his room, hair dripping wet. He had a towel around his shoulders so his clothes wouldn't get damp. Since he was out of his kendo uniform, he now wore his usual outfit which consisted of a white shortsleeved t-shirt (which had grown a little small. You could see part of his navel), cargo shorts, and black fingerless gloves. If he had been anywhere else, he would have also been wearing converse sneakers, but one did not wear shoes indoors. That was rude.

He began rubbing down his hair with the towel, clearly aggravated. Nobuki was such an idiot. Did he really think that this Kurosaki boy was worth exposing the rest of the Mnemosyne? They had gone 20 years without being discovered and Kaoru intended to keep it that way. No one could know where they were. Not until they found the ones responsible for all this and killed them. Once that was done, they would return home with all the necessary evidence, and face whatever consequences that came with it. Why didn't Nobuki realize that? And now they all had to worry about two _competent_ soul reapers setting up base in their town. Brilliant.

Kaoru's hair was dry now. He opened up his closet and pulled out his favorite green and yellow jacket vest. He wore it all the time, sometime even in his sleep.

As Kaoru pulled the vest on, a mutinous thought popped into his head. What if Nobuki was actually right? What if Ichigo Kurosaki really was a Mnemosyne?

_"Yeah, like he has _such_ a good track record for actually being right_."

Kaoru turned his gaze on his sword, which lay peacefully on its stand. It was a fine sword, a_ tachi_ with a tan colored hilt and a tsuba in the shape of a lightning bolt. The sheathe was bright green.

"_You've worked on this for a long time, stupid. You really want to risk everything just because that shady freak thinks some punk is one of you? That's bad sense, and you know it._"

Kaoru groaned and threw him himself on to his futon, which he had forgotten to roll up that morning. (Naomi may do all the housework, but she was adamant on everyone making their own bed.)

"Arggh!" he groaned out loud. "I'm so conflicted!"

"_You shouldn't talk to yourself, stupid. People will think you're crazy._"

Kaoru ignored that comment. Sighing, he turned on to his side and picked up the picture frame he kept next to his pillow.

"You would know what to do," he said with a weary smile. "You'd know whether or not to listen to Nobuki."

The frame held an old photograph. It was of Kaoru, minus the tattoos and with shorter hair, and a pretty, smiling older woman with vivid red hair.

Kaoru frowned sadly at the image of the woman. "Why did you have to leave us, Botan? We still need you."

* * *

**This chapter was simply to introduce Kaoru as well as introduce other Mnemosyne. Next chapter, we'll see even more!**

**Terms**

_Haori_- The (sometimes sleeveless) white coat captains wear.

_Quincy-_ A race of spiritually aware humans. They had the ability to gather reshi in the air to form bows and arrows, which they used to fight Hollows. Unlike soul reapers, they didn't purify Hollows, just killed them. The Quincy were eradicated 200 years ago, and as far as anyone knows, Uryu and his father are the last ones.

_The 9 Muses-_ Goddesses of the Arts from Greek mythology. Each one had a different subject they sang about in. In the order Uryu said them: Epic poetry, history, love poetry, song and elegiac poetry, tragedy, hymns, dance, comedy, and astronomy.

_Kendo_- Meaning "Way of the Sword." It is a modern Japanese martial art, which descended from traditional swordsmanship (kenjutsu) and uses bamboo swords (shinai), and protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and many other nations across the world.

**Words**

_Tachi_- A type of Japanese samurai sword.

_Tsuba_- The guard on a Japanese sword.

_Tobikuma-_ Name meaning 'flying cloud.'

_Megumi_- Name meaning 'blessing.'

_Naomi-_ Name meaning 'respect' and 'beautiful.'

_Kane-_ Name meaning 'putting together.'

_Abasi-_ Kenyan name meaning 'stern.'

_Go-_ Japanese for 'five.' In this case, it is the nickname of one of the upcoming characters.


	10. Karuizawa Arc Part 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, only my respective OCs.**

**In my stories, you'll notice I love writing dialogue. But beyond that, I find I'm a tad lacking. So in order to make myself a better writer, I resolve to use a little less dialogue and do more actual writing for change.**

**Oh, in case you want a better idea as to what Kaoru looks like, a picture of him is the cover of this story. On the left is what he looks like now, on the right is what he looked like in the prologue.**

**Onward!**

* * *

Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, to say the least, was not happy. You wouldn't be either, if you had walked into your office as usual, ready to start on the mountain of paperwork you know your lieutenant wasn't even going to _touch_, only to find that the contents of your office had fallen through the floor and were now floating in sour-smelling liquid.

"Now Captain, I know this looks bad..." Rangiku Matsumoto, his lieutenant, said. She was trying to ease his temper.

It wasn't working.

"Oh, really, Matsumoto?" Toshiro ground out, a tick mark forming on his forehead. "It looks bad? Judging by your tone, is it supposed to be something else?"

"It's not what you think!" Rangiku insisted.

"I think that you've been keeping your entire saké stash under the floorboards of my office, and over the last few decades, they started to leak out. Then the alcohol ate away at the support beams, causing my entire floor to collapse!"

"... Okay, it is what you think."

Have you ever been so annoyed at someone, you just wanted to set them on fire? If the answer is yes, then you have a pretty good idea as to what Toshiro was feeling right about now. Rangiku had done many, many intolerable things over their years working together, but this was the last straw. Toshiro was finally going to let her have it, even if it meant turning her into Rangiku-sicle and pushing her off Sokyoku Hill.

Rangiku smiled uneasily, attempting to salvage the situation. "Wow Captain, I've never seen your face this red before. Maybe you want a couple minutes to calm down?"

Toshiro turned furiously toward the soon-to-be dead woman. "Matsumoto, I-"

_KA-BOOM_!

The Squad 10 barracks shook, the sound of the explosion ringing in the ears of its squad members. The force of it made Toshiro stumble, fortunately backwards into the hall instead of the pool of fermenting rice wine.

Rangiku caught her captain before he could land on his rear. "What the heck was that?"

"I don't know," Toshiro replied. "But I have feeling it's nothing good."

_Gong, Gong, Gong_! "_Attention, attention! Intruder in the Seireitei, repeat, intruder in the Seireitei!_"

"Aw man,_ again_?" Rangiku groaned. "It's probably been said before, but I'm saying it again now. Our security _sucks_!"

Toshiro was forced to agree with her on that. Between Ichigo and his friends, the Bounts, and the occasional Arrancar, the Seireitei was being invaded on a regular basis. Squad 8 (courtesy of Captain Kyoraku) actually started a joke about it. _The Seireitei's being invaded? Must be Tuesday._

"Captain Hitsugaya!" Kokichiro Takezoe- the squad's seventh seat- came rushing up the hallway, stopping in front of his captain.

_Wow, that was fast_, Toshiro thought. "Takezoe, what's going on? What was that explosion just now?"

"Captain, it's the- what the heck happened to your office?"

"Never mind that, answer the question."

Takezoe hastily apologized, then relayed his message. About five or so minutes ago, Squad 12 received a security breach, and the intruder set off the explosion they had just heard. Squad 12 was now requesting any available reinforcements. Except from Squad 11, whom they didn't trust within a 10 mile radius of their labs. But given who Squad 11's lieutenant was, that was understandable. Other than that, back up would be appreciated as soon as possible.

Toshiro nodded. "We'll get right on it." He took off down the hallway . "Let's go, Matsumoto!"

"Right!" As she ran after her Captain, she snickered to herself. _Whew, dodged a bullet there_.

"And don't think for a second that we're done talking about my office."

"Darn it!"

* * *

Ichigo did eventually get ready and go to breakfast, and luckily it was easier than he thought it would be. The soreness from earlier was slowly ebbing away, making movement less painstaking. He took his time deciding what to wear, and eventually chose cargo pants, a black long sleeved t-shirt, and his favorite 'Bad Vibe' t-shirt on over that. (There were no need for uniforms on class trips.) After tossing Kon out of his drawer and grabbing his sneakers, he made his way down to the hotel's dining room.

As soon as he entered the large area, Keigo attempted to tackle him in a cheery 'good morning'. Thankfully, years of dealing with his father's particular brand of good mornings gave him impeccable reflexes, and all Keigo earned for his trouble was Ichigo's forearm knocking into his throat. The poor boy was not happy with Ichigo's reaction, and broke out into a full-on sob when Mizuiro muttered about how 'Mr. Asano' should stop carrying on.

A typical morning in the life of Ichigo Kurosaki.

The dining room was fairly large, but a few minutes skimming the tables was all he needed to locate his friends, who luckily decided to sit together. Anticipating his late arrival, Rukia had been nice enough to grab him a plate. (Ichigo frowned when she wasn't looking. Rukia must have still felt partially responsible for and guilty about his injuries. She was never this considerate when it came to food.) Orihime offered him some of her food as well, but when he saw she put wasabi and bean paste in the scrambled eggs, he politely declined.

Truthfully, Ichigo would have liked to discuss the Mnemosyne, Hollows, and the mysterious Master a little more with his comrades, but with Tatsuki sitting not two feet away, he thought better of it. There would plenty of chances to discuss it later. Though at one point when Tatsuki wasn't listening, Ichigo asked Uryu if Rukia made her report yet. Uryu stiffly replied that she had tried, but something was screwing with her soul pager's reception, most likely by whatever was disrupting the flow of spirit energy in Karuizawa. She was planning to move beyond city limits later and try again. Ichigo thought that was a pretty good idea. When he had moved his fight with Savage Thinker outside of Karuizawa, he regained what little reiatsu-sensing ability he had. That meant whatever was doing the disrupting was solely in this town.

Breakfast ended soon enough, and Ms. Ochi ordered everyone to collect their backpacks and itineraries, because they had a long day ahead of them. Ichigo twitched, for he only then remembered the long, long list of activities she handed out the other day. In the events of the previous night, it had completely slipped his mind. He_ really_ didn't have time for this. They had a mission to focus on, not some lame tourist attractions. Seeing the growing look of dismay on his friend's face, Chad put a reassuring hand on Ichigo's shoulder.

"Take it easy, Ichigo," he said.

Ichigo sighed, and shrugged off his nerves. He supposed there was a bright side to all this. Their class would be hiking around a large portion of Karuizawa today. He and the others could continue their investigation while covering more ground.

And that's how Ichigo soon found himself at the Karuizawa Botanical Gardens.

"This is amazing!" Rukia exclaimed, her eyes drinking in all the beautiful flora before her. "I can't believe there's a garden this_ big_! And its public too?"

"Yup," Ichigo replied, watching as their fellow classmates milled around. "Anyone who wants to can come to these gardens."

Rukia looked as if the idea was ludicrous. "The gardens back in the Soul Society belong exclusively to the nobility. They're the only ones who can go in them."

"Does your brother have a garden?" Orihime asked curiously.

"Of course. The Kuchiki estate has a wonderful garden." She turned to Ichigo. "Ichigo, you've been to my house, you saw it."

Ichigo shrugged. "If I did, I don't remember what I saw."

Rukia rolled her eyes. Ichigo really did have a terrible memory. "Anyway, back on task. Anybody notice anything different when we got here?"

The group took a second to think about it. Uryu provided the correct answer.

"It's easier to sense spirit energy here. It's as if the heaviness in the air has lessened slightly."

He was right. The weight of the air that had been following them around for the last day wasn't as bad in the gardens. If they focused hard enough, they could feel Ichigo's massive spiritual pressure. Ichigo himself, on the other hand, stunk at sensing spiritual pressures anyway so it didn't make much difference to him. But he had to admit, the lack of heavy-feeling air made him way more comfortable than he had been lately.

"There must be something in this garden," Uryu went on, "that weakens the dampening effect. I suggest we try and find out what it is. It could be useful later."

"Who died and made you leader?" Ichigo scowled.

"The same person who died and made _you_ leader when we invaded the Soul Society."

"... Touché."

"We can argue about who's leader later," Rukia sighed, getting between the arguing boys. "But Uryu's idea is a good one, so we'll go along with it. Since we can sense spirit energy a little, if you find something, flare your reiatsu. We'll meet back here in an hour. Got it?"

"Got it," huffed Ichigo.

"Aye-aye!" Orihime saluted.

"Fine," grunted Uryu.

"Yeah," Chad replied.

"Good. Now, break!"

They all took off in opposite directions to begin their search. Ichigo sprinted down the first stone path that caught his eye, moving past flower bushes and ponds. It was late fall, but the the flowers looked as vibrant as they would in spring. Ichigo couldn't help but be impressed by that.

Unfortunately, while lost in his own thoughts Ichigo nearly plowed into three people coming down the path. Two women and a man.

"Oh, sorry about that!" Ichigo went right on going, ignoring the looks of the disgruntled people he nearly ran into. He had a job to do.

The three garden-goers watched as he ran out of sight.

"So that's Ichigo Kurosaki?" the first girl, the taller of the two, asked. "Wow, Yuki never said he was cute."

"I refuse to believe for a second that is his actual hair color," the second girl added. "The teachers at the academy must have been livid."

"Can it, you two," the man snapped grumpily. "We came here to test this kid, not ask him out on a date." He sighed and muttered, "I can't believe Tobikuma talked us into this. Kaoru is _going_ to find out, and we'll be smelling nothing but old pennies for a month when he's done with us."

Girl 1 placed her hands on her hips. "Everything will be fine. Stop being so pessimistic, Kane."

"I can't, Naomi. 'Negative reinforcement', remember?"

"You know, just because Botan slapped that title on you," Girl 2 pointed out, "does not mean you have to follow it to the letter."

Kane shot her a dirty look. "Shut up, Mikomi. Nobody asked you."

Mikomi sighed. "Maybe we should have brought Saburo on offense. I think your cloud of perpetual gloom is starting to make me ill."

"If you weren't Go's best friend..." he began to threaten.

"Hey, that's enough!" Naomi scolded. "Tobikuma entrusted us to get this done, and that's what we're going to do. I don't want to hear another rude word out of either of you, understand?"

Kane and Mikomi gave each other wary glances, but sighed and agreed.

Naomi nodded. "That's better. Now hug."

They bristled. "_Naomi!_"

"Sheesh, I was only kidding. Come on, let's follow Ichigo. Can't have him giving us the slip, now can we?"

* * *

Given the speed they were moving and the close proximity of their two barracks, Toshiro and Rangiku made it to the Department of Research and Development in record time. Toshiro's feeling had been correct; things did not look good. A fire had broken out, and flames flickered through the windows as squad members desperately tried to throw water on the growing inferno. A moment of surveying the scene, and the young captain caught sight of Squad 12's third seat, who was directing the frantic would-be firefighters.

"Akon!"

The horned older man turned at the sound of his name. "Captain Hitsugaya?"

They ran over to join him.

"We just got the message," Toshiro said. "Can you give us a status report?"

Akon nodded. "Of course. The ryoka bypassed our basic security, but set off the silent alarm when he broke into one of the tech labs. A couple of our squad members tried to apprehend him but..." He gestured to the fire.

"What about Captain and Lieutenant Kurotsuchi?" Rangiku asked. "Where are they?"

"They're out in the North Rukongai," Akon replied with slight annoyance. "They got word from the soul reapers stationed in Zaraki- the district, not the captain- that a strange type of Hollow appeared there. He wanted to see for himself and get samples."

Toshiro crossed his arms. "How convenient, that a ryoka would break into your labs the very day your captain and lieutenant are out."

"I was thinking the same thing." His face darkened. "That freak always takes the best assignments. I have just as much say in the Department as he does. It's not fair!"

Toshiro and Rangiku gave him a weird look. Where had that little burst of jealousy come from? They had always thought Akon really respected his captain.

Akon seemed to realize what he was saying. "What the hell? I'm sorry, I have no idea where that came from. I've been having a really long day." He rubbed his neck. "Right, so as for our status, we got everyone out before the fire got too out of control. We usually have extinguishers in the case of accidental fires, but the ryoka somehow disabled them, probably just to spite us. And speaking of the fire, I doubt Captain Kurotsuchi would be too pleased to come back and find his labs a mountain of ashes. If you would...?"

He didn't have to say any more. Toshiro stepped forward and drew his zanpakuto.

"Reign over the frosted heavens, _Hyorinmaru!_"

The normal katana grew slightly in length, a long chain and crescent-shaped blade emerging from the hilt. Water and ice swirled around the sword, and the sky went into an overcast. Toshiro lept forward, slashing the air in front of him and releasing a giant dragon, formed from the ice his zanpakuto collected. The beast roared and swept over the blazing building, the sudden blast of cold snuffing the flames out almost instantaneously. (Unfortunately, a number of Squad 12 scientists found themselves with a fine covering of frost on their skin.) A second or two later, the ice dragon shattered and melted.

"Now that this is taken care of," Rangiku said to Akon. "Whatever happened to our little firebug?"

"I'd have to assume he's still in the building."

Toshiro heard Akon say this, and kept a scrutinizing eye on the burnt out building. If the ryoka truly was still in there, they would be coming out any moment. He closed his eyes and focused. And there it was, strange reiatsu moving in the labs, making its way to the outside. He motioned for the soul reapers around him to come forward, and to draw their weapons. They did so, and waited.

The front doors of the labs went flying open, as if they had been kicked apart.

"Man, that was cool!" the kicker called out, impressed. "Pun totally intended. That is _so_ not fair, I wish I could do something as awesome as that! Soul reapers have all the luck."

Toshiro eyes widened to the size of saucers, for two reasons. The first was the ryoka was female instead of male as he and Akon had previously thought. The second...

"You're green!" he blurted out.

The ryoka snorted. She was small, lanky girl who looked no more than 12, but in the Soul Society, you could never really tell. She wore a deep purple tunic that fell to her hips and light purple shorts. She was barefoot, and didn't seem to mind stepping on broken glass. But true to Toshiro's observation, her chin-length hair, her skin, and her eyes were all varying shades of vivid green.

"No duh, Captain Obvious," she scoffed. "How long did it take you to make that observation?"

Seeing her captain was still in shock, Rangiku stepped forward, pointing her sword at the green girl. "Who are you, ryoka? How did you get into the Seireitei?" _And to a lesser extent, why are you _green_ of all things_?

The girl was appalled. "You just met me and you're already pointing a weapon at me? You should at least tell folks your name before you do that. Look, I'll even tell you mine. It's Shitto."

"I am Rangiku Matsumoto, lieutenant of Squad 10." She elbowed Toshiro in the back.

He snapped out of it. "And I'm Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya, also of Squad 10."

Shitto waved her hand nonchalantly. "Oh, I already knew that."

Cue two angry tick marks blossoming into existence. "Then why did you make such a big fuss over not telling you our names?"

She didn't answer. Instead, Shitto was staring bitterly at Rangiku, for some reason.

Rangiku returned the glare. "Is there a problem?"

Shitto's face grew from a leafy green to a deep emerald in anger. Finally, she snapped.

"Why do you have such big boobs?! That's not fair!"

At the sheer mention of Rangiku's... assets, a number of soul reapers' noses fountained blood. Toshiro, on the other hand, could only stare in shock and disgust. She was concerned about _that_ when she was surrounded by a mass of angry soul reapers? He proceeded to watch her throw a tantrum.

"That's completely unfair! Why do girls like you get the boobs and girls like me are completely flatchested? Why do people always have things I don't have? IT'S NOT FAIR!"

"Newsflash, the world isn't fair!" Toshiro barked, irritated. He couldn't believe the girl who was causing so much trouble was such a brat! "Now tell us what your purpose here is, or we'll be forced to-"

"Well,_ yeah_ the world isn't fair," Shitto interrupted, suddenly calm. "But I think I'm allowed to gripe about it. I mean, don't you want to gripe sometimes? You're, what, the youngest captain in Seireitei history? Not to mention more powerful than half those morons they got leading the squads. Where's the respect?"

"Tell me about it." The words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "They all treat me like a little kid! I have just as much authority and power as the others, so why do they get all the glory? It's not fa-"

Toshiro's hand clapped over his mouth. What was he_ saying_? He sounded like a bitter child, not a captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. This sudden outburst earned him the stares of his fellow soul reapers.

"Captain," Rangiku whispered sympathetically. "Are you really jealous of the other captains?"

"Of course not!" he barked at her, breaking into a sweat. He wasn't jealous, he wasn't! He turned his gaze to Shitto, who was looking quite pleased with herself.

This girl's spiritual pressure was different than most. She let it loose, and didn't bother to suppress, and now he could see why. Her reiatsu wormed its way into his body. It was stirring up petty feelings and emotions he had not known were there, making him say things he did not mean. He remembered Akon's own little outburst. Did the same thing happen to him?

Shitto grinned smugly. "No matter how self righteous you may think you are, everyone has that one little thing they're jealous of. There's no getting past it."

All around her, multiple Squad 12 members were breaking into fights with each other, shouting angry and envious comments at one another. Others were trying to to break the fights up. Her influence had spread in the time they took talking.

She held up the napsac that had been previously been over her right shoulder. "Now that I've had my fun, I have a schedule to keep. Please thank Captain Kurotsuchi for me. I promise his loan will be put to good use."

Toshiro charged forward, ready to cut this pest down. "You're not going anywhere!"

_Clang_!

Shitto smiled sweetly at him. "Is that the best you can do?"

Toshiro was once again in shock. The sword that was now being pushed against his own had materialized out of thin air. The blade was double-edged, and the guard looked like some kind of flat upside-down 'u' that stuck out on either side. The polished wood hilt had a curved piece on top that held a shining green stone.

"You have... a zanpakuto?" he questioned.

"In a sense," she answered vaguely. Applying more force on her blade, she pushed Toshiro off, then disappearing in a flash of shunpo.

"Shunpo as well?" he muttered. Where did she-

"Hey!"

Toshiro looked up. Shitto was now standing on top on a nearby wall.

"Catch me if you can, Little Shiro!" she hollered down to him mockingly.

Toshiro looked like he was about to have an apoplexy. That was _it_. First his office was turned into a pool of alcohol, then Shitto made a complete fool of him by making him act like a jealous brat, and now he was being called his ever so hated nickname by someone_ other_ than Momo, who was the only one he tolerated it from. The dam broke, and all the aggravation he accumulated in the short span of 15 minutes came pouring out.

"My name is not Little Shiro!_ IT'S_ _CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA_!"

Shitto laughed and took off running across roof tops. Toshiro went charging after her, roaring in icy rage. Both were soon gone from sight.

Rangiku sighed and turned to Akon. "Akon, that girl has the ability to influence people's emotions. Snap your squad out of it, and then figure out what she took."

Akon nodded. "Of course. What are you going to do?"

"Apparently take the role of the responsible one and make sure my captain doesn't kill the ryoka before we can interrogate her." She shook her head. "When did the world get so messed up?"

With a flashstep she was gone.

* * *

**Yeah, this was shorter than the previous two chapters, but those were pretty dang long! I needed a break! So, in this chapter, we were introduced to 3 more Mnemosyne and a new antagonist, Shitto! Despite their short screen time, what do you think of them?**

**Terms**

_Saké_- Also known as rice wine. This is a popular alcoholic drink in Japan.

_Sokyoku Hill-_ The main execution grounds and location of the Sokyoku (Twinned Punishment), an execution device said to carry the power of million zanpakuto. The device was destroyed by Ichigo Kurosaki, Captain Shunsui Kyoraku, and Captain Jushiro Ukitake.

_Ryoka-_ Souls who enter the Soul Society without the escort of a soul reaper.

_Rukongai-_ "Wandering Soul City" that surrounds the Seireitei. This is where all newly dead souls end up. It has 360 districts, 80 in each of the four cardinal directions. District 1 having the highest standard of living, District 80 having the worst.

_Zaraki-_ Meaning "New Tree", this is the 80th district in North Rukongai. This is where Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of Squad 11 is from.

**Words**

_Saburo-_ Name meaning 'third son.'

_Shitto- _Japanese for 'envy.'

_Hyorinmaru-_ This is Toshiro's zanpakuto. Translates as 'Ice Ring.'


	11. Omake: The Deal With Saké

**Kon:** Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!

**Rangiku:** Golden!

* * *

_**Several Decades Earlier...**_

"Alright boys, that's the last of it!" Rangiku declared happily. "Thanks for all the help."

"No problem, Rangiku," Shuhei said, setting down the last box. "Happy to be of service."

Izuru put down his own box. "If you don't mind me asking, where did you get this much saké anyway?"

"Well, the other day I was on my way to visit my favorite alcohol store in the Rukon District, and much to my sorrow, I found it was going out of business," Rangiku replied melodramatically. "And the poor owner was so nice, and since I had always been a valued customer, he said I could take home whatever he didn't sell."

Shuhei and Izuru surveyed the many, many crates of alcohol before. Apparently, the owner didn't sell a lot that day.

"Uh, your captain _did_ say you could keep this in the barracks, right?" Shuhei asked. "I wouldn't want you getting in trouble."

She waved off his concerns. "Don't be silly, Shuhei! My captain couldn't care less where I keep my saké!" She chuckled nervously. "It's our third seat I'm worried about finding it."

"Oh yeah, the prodigy, right?"

"Uh-huh. That kid is_ so_ bossy!" Rangiku huffed. "And he's _so_ mean! Saying nonsense like 'stop getting drunk, Rangiku' and 'you keep distracting the other lieutenants from their work, cut it out Rangiku.' What complete and utter drivel."

Izuru and Shuhei stared at her.

"What?"

"Yeah, Rangiku," Izuru agreed sarcastically. "That's _totally_ nonsense."

Rangiku, despite popular belief, was actually quite intelligent, and she knew sarcasm when she heard it. How rude of Izuru. He was just peeved about how she was always getting him drunk. At least Hisagi was nice to her.

"Hisagi!" a voice called from outside. "Get your ass back to the barracks, _now_! You can ogle at Lieutenant Matsumoto after you finish editing the late edition!"

Hisagi winced and called back, "But I'm just a 3rd seat! Shouldn't being editor be _your_ job?!"

"Our captain's blind and I have better things to do than stare at a piece of paper all day, so stop arguing and get over here. Or so help me, I'll put you on _latrine duty_ for the rest of your pitiful existence."

Amazingly, he said this in an even, stern tone and still managed to sound completely ticked off. No small feat.

"Fine, I'll be right there!" Shuhei sighed and turned back to his friends. "Sorry guys, the lieutenant beckons. You know how he is."

Rangiku, a lieutenant herself, nodded. "I'll say. That guy gives me the creeps, and he's always so _cold_. And he never takes me up on my offers to go drinking. He's such a stiff!"

That was something the three of them could agree on. Shuhei said his goodbyes and ran outside to join his lieutenant. Izuru also had some business to take care of back in Squad 5, so he took his leave as well. Rangiku found herself all alone, and a mountain of rice wine to take care of.

_Hmm,_ she thought to herself. _Kira was right, there is an awful lot of it. Where could I keep it so Hitsugaya will never find it_?

After a few minutes of thinking, a solution came to her. She knew exactly where to put it all.

* * *

"Rangiku?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, sir. What is it?"

"Why are you tearing up my floorboards?"

Rangiku glanced to the hammer in her hand, and the miscellaneous pieces of wood scattered around her.

"... Renovations?"

Her captain stared at her for moment, then shrugged. "Okay then. Just be sure to clean up after yourself."

He exited the office, and Rangiku did a fist pump. Now her saké would be safe, and third seat Hitsugaya would never be the wiser. Ha!

* * *

_**Several decades later...**_

"_MATSUMOTO!_"

Rangiku fell off her office couch, startled by the sudden shout of her name.

"_GET IN HERE AND EXPLAIN WHY MY OFFICE IS FILLED WITH RICE WINE!_"

Rangiku stiffened. She knew why.

"Oops..."


	12. Karuizawa Arc Part 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and its characters, only my OCs.**

**You know when you write a story, you come to a chapter you end up having to rewrite 30 times before you're satisfied with it? This was one of those chapters.**

* * *

Ichigo sighed, sitting down under one of the garden's sakura trees. 45 minutes trying to locate whatever was weakening the reiatsu-dampening effect to no avail.

"Maybe if I actually knew what I was looking for..." he grumbled and put his arms behind his head, leaning back.

The Karuizawa Botanical Gardens were a fairly large area, and Ichigo was only one guy, even if he was only searching one small part of it. Finding what was weakening the dampening effect was like finding a needle in a haystack. It could be anything from one of the plants to a piece of artwork on display. How was he supposed to find it?

Well, when in doubt, start at the beginning. Ichigo had made his way back to the gardens' front entrance and worked his way from there. He'd looked around trees, bushes, plots of flowers, heck, even in the gift shop, on the slight chance some of the merchandise was the cause for some weird reason. He'd neither found or felt anything different during his search, but he did end up buying a souvenir apron for Yuzu from the gift shop. Good thing he remembered to bring his backpack, so he wouldn't have to carry the flowery thing around in his arms.

So he here he was now, out of leads and ideas. Maybe the others were having more luck. He could just imagine Uryu's smug face when they met up in 15 minutes, gloating about how he'd been successful, or another rant about the superiority of the Quincy and all that crud. Ugh, Ichigo was not looking forward to that.

Ichigo removed his arms from behind his head and rested them on his knees. Maybe he was going about this the wrong way. Physically looking for... whatever he was looking for wasn't working, obviously, so he needed to try a different approach.

"I'm searching for what's making it easier to sense reiatsu, right?" he asked himself. "Maybe I could try sensing where here it's the easiest. Then it stands to reason I'll find the source."

Ichigo ability to detect reiatsu wasn't all that great, but it was at least worth a try. He closed his eyes and focused. Now, where was it?

_**...**_

_**...**_

There.

Ichigo sensed something on the very edge of the gardens. Oddly enough, it wasn't where it was the easiest to detect, but the most difficult. It was as if the weight that hung in the air everywhere else in town had condensed into one spot. Ichigo sprung from where he sat and took off running toward the spot.

_C'mon, c'mon,_ Ichigo thought._ I just had it. Where did it go? Argh, when I'm done with this mission, I'm having Kisuke teach me how to detect spirit energy better. This is getting annoying_.

He jogged to the furthest part of the gardens. Upon reaching his destination, Ichigo saw the only object that made this place differ from anywhere else in the area was a random giant rock. What was that doing in a Botanical Garden?

Ichigo walked slowly up to the boulder, touching it lightly with his fingers. It felt... different. Not in a physical sense, but in a energy sense. The stone gave off a weird, almost draining pressure.

He caught sight of a garden employee. "Excuse me, miss?"

The employee stopped and replied, "Yes, how can I help you?"

He pointed to the rock. "If its no trouble to ask, but what kind of rock is this boulder made of?"

The employee looked confused. Why on Earth would he want to know that? But she simply shrugged and did her best to answer. "I'm sorry, but I don't know. Some geologist dragged it off the mountain a few years ago. Guess the Gardens' director thought it would be good decoration. Does that help any?"

"Not really, but thanks anyway."

"Sorry I could not be of more help." The employee moved on, having other duties to attend to.

Ichigo turned his attention back to the boulder. Call him crazy, but there was something eerily familiar about the energy- or lack thereof- it gave off. Where had he sensed this before?

* * *

_**Some Weeks Earlier...**_

_"So, how come it took you so long to regain your powers?" Ichigo asked over breakfast one morning. "Seeing how you kicked D-Roy's ass, you're way more powerful than you give yourself credit for."_

_Rukia took a bite of her eggs. "Well, for starters, I foolishly gave nearly all my spiritual power to an ugly, strawberry-head of a human."_

_"Hey!"_

_"Then Urahara _so_ kindly gave me a gigai, which was actually draining what little reiatsu I had left. And to add a cherry on top, I was put into the Repentance Cell, which ate away at any spirit energy that remained within me."_

_Ichigo sipped the juice his sister set in front of him. "I've been meaning to ask, how did that work exactly?"_

_Rukia gave him an exasperated look. "Seriously? I thought I explained this to you already!"_

_"If it was during one of your 'why the Soul Society is so superior' rants, I probably tuned you out."_

_"Doofus. Since you have the attention span of a newt, I'll tell you again. The cell is made entirely of sekkiseki rock, which repels and drains spirit energy. The membrane your friends' cannonball oh-so gracefully broke through was caused by the sekkiseki walls surrounding the Seireitei."_

_"Dammit, am I still getting grief about that stupid cannonball? That wasn't my fault!"_

_"I never said it was. But I do know five other people who would beg to differ."_

_"Shut up and eat your breakfast."_

* * *

The Repentance Cell and the walls around the Seireitei. They had given off an extremely similar aura to the one this boulder was, only not as pronounced. That could only mean the boulder was most likely made of sekkiseki as well, but what would a spirit substance being doing in the World of the Living?

Ichigo was so deep in thought he didn't even notice someone creeping up behind him. He was poked lightly in the back.

"Uh, mister?"

Ichigo whirled around, performing a palm thrust that would broken a rib or two if he hadn't caught himself an inch within his 'assailant's' chest. It was just a young boy, no older than his sisters. The boy fell backward onto his backside, cowering in fear of the Vizard.

"Geez kid, you shouldn't sneak up on people." Ichigo pulled his arm back, letting out the breath he had been holding. "I could've smashed your ribs just now."

The boy said nothing, he went right on cowering. It was only then Ichigo noticed the thick chain protruding from the boy's chest.

Oh, not another one. The amount of ghost kids Ichigo came across over the last couple years was too many for his liking. It was really humbling to experience. Kids always seemed so alive, and usually you could never imagine them dying so young... and Ichigo had probably just scared the bejeebers out of him. Perfect.

Ichigo sighed. "Listen, kid-"

The boy shrieked and made a break for it. Ichigo attempted to stop him, but the kid was quick on his feet and he was out of reach immediately. Cursing, Ichigo zipped open his backpack and shook it out onto the grass. He didn't have time to dig around in it.

Kon flailed as he hit the ground. He was immediately on his feet and shouting, "Oh, _now_ you're letting me out? After all that talk of 'stay in the bag, Kon' and all that crap? You have some nerve!"

Ichigo picked Kon up by the neck. "Cough it up!"

Kon began sweating. "Wha- no, please! I refuse!"

"Kon, cough it up now! I don't have time for this!"

"Forget it! I don't want to have your gross hand shoved down my throat again!"

Ichigo could have done that, but that particular method took too long. So he instead pulled his combat pass out of his pocket and smacked it against Kon's face. A tiny green pill, Kon's true form, fell into his palm. Ichigo gulped down the pill without a moment of hesitation and his soul was shoved out of his body. The force of the push made Kon (now inhabiting Ichigo's body) fall backward.

"Keep an eye on my body, Kon!" he shouted and tossed Kon his plush form.

The mod soul stumbled and caught the toy. "Yeah, okay!"

Ichigo took off running after the ghost. He needed to perform a konso, pronto. One of the first thing she had noticed about the child was how short his Chain of Fate was. He wasn't too far off from becoming a Hollow. But he wouldn't become one, not if Ichigo had anything to say about it. He rounded a corner hedge, sensing the boy's presence. Ichigo found him standing next to a flower bed, and he wasn't alone. A girl was kneeling in front of him.

"Hey, you!" Ichigo shouted.

The girl looked up. The ghost, on the other hand, squealed and hid behind her.

"Well, look who has arrived," the girl noted calmly. She moved the Whole soul out from behind her and ruffled his hair. "Thank you, Tetsu. You did a very good job."

The spirit boy, Tetsu, sniffled, smiling at the praise.

"Job?" Ichigo echoed. "Wait, you can see him? And me?"

The girl regarded him with amused eyes. She was petite, looking to be about his age. She had straight black hair that was long in the front and short in the back, bangs cut squarely across her forehead. Her eyes were a disturbing red-brown color, almost a deep maroon. She wore a short red dress that revealed her shoulders, sleeves coming up to just past her elbows. A brown leather belt was wrapped around her waist, purely for the purpose of an accessory. She also wore thin white knee socks, black dress shoes, and a necklace around her neck that consisted of a silver chain and a diamond-shaped charm that shone a soft blue-lavender color.

"Well, an orange haired boy in samurai regalia is a little hard to miss," she said finally. "Ichigo Kurosaki, right? My name is Mikomi Tashima."

Now that Ichigo was away from the sekkiseki-esque boulder, his reiatsu sense became clearer. This girl had no spiritual pressure, not even a little, so he knew she wasn't just suppressing it. There was not even a trace of spirit energy, so how could she see him and the soul?

"How do you know my name?" Ichigo demanded. He stiffened at the thought of one possibility. "Wait, _please_ don't tell me you're like Savage Thinker and you can read my mind. I really don't want to face someone like that again."

"As cool as that would be, that is not it," Mikomi waved off the concern. "But speaking of Savage Thinker, a couple of my friends caught your fight with him and overheard your name being spoken. They passed the information on to me, and that is how I know."

Ichigo relaxed slightly. At least he didn't have to worry about fighting another crazed telepath. He was about to ask what she meant by Tetsu's job, when he was interrupted by a mother and her young daughter cutting between them.

"Mommy, why is that girl talking to herself?" the daughter asked.

The mother glanced at Mikomi, then smiled. "She's on the phone, sweetie. It's that thing on her ear."

The mother and daughter walked off.

Sure enough, Ichigo spotted a Blue Tooth headset on Mikomi's right ear, hidden slightly by her hair. That was actually a pretty clever way to avoid looking like a loon, talking to invisible people. He would have to try that sometime. And while he didn't appreciate the interruption, that little scene at least confirmed Mikomi had a physical form, and was not just a really weak spirit being.

"So, Mikomi," Ichigo said, grasping the hilt of his zanpakuto. "I'm going to go out on limb and say you sent that Whole to lure me here?"

"She did!" Tetsu the Whole piped up. "She said that if I brought you here, she would help me move on to the other side!"

"I did say that, didn't I," Mikomi muttered to herself. She looked at Ichigo, a mixture of sheepish-ness and hopefulness gracing her features. "If it is not too much trouble, do you mind sending him on his way?"

He sighed. "Yeah yeah, whatever."

Ichigo pulled his zanpakuto off his back, leaving it wrapped so he wouldn't scare the boy too badly. Flipping it so the bottom of the hilt was over Tetsu, he quickly stamped the ghost's forehead, leaving behind glowing kanji symbols for 'life and death.' A peaceful expression passed over Tetsu's face as he faded into a sphere of light, shooting into the sky before vanishing.

Mikomi clapped. "Nicely done. A good, clean transfer."

"Thanks," Ichigo said halfheartedly. "Now, why did you send that boy to lure me here? And you said some friends of yours caught my fight? Who are they? I never saw anyone last night."

"I would hope not. You needed all your concentration to defeat Savage Thinker," Mikomi noted. "You did not have time to take notice of a few causal observers. And speaking of observations, is that your natural hair color, or did you just dye your eyebrows to match?"

"What does _that_ have to do with anything?!" Ichigo snapped. Grumbling, he replied, "And for the record, it _is_ my natural hair color."

Mikomi snapped her fingers disappointingly. "Darn. I guess I lost that bet."

Ichigo twitched, irritated. What was with this girl? She had no spirit energy, but she seemed to know all about Hollows and soul reapers. Maybe she was a soul reaper herself, but in a gigai? He immediately dismissed the idea. Even in gigai, one could still detect traces of their reiatsu. So what was the deal-

_Wait,_ he thought. A girl with no spirit energy, but fully capable of seeing beings of the spirit realm?

"I get it now," Ichigo muttered dangerously.

Mikomi stopped her complaining of her lost bet. "You do?"

"Yeah," Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu, wrappings slowly falling away. "You're one of those Mnemosyne I've been hearing so much about. And one of those Mnemosyne attacked my friend last night."

_Darn it_, Mikomi thought. _Tobikuma did say Yuki got into a fight with Rukia Kuchiki. Thanks to her, my job just became much more difficult_. "Well, you see-"

"Quiet!" he barked. He pointed his zanpakuto at her. "Rukia said it was a girl who attacked her. So answer me this; are you a Mnemosyne, and were you the one who attacked Rukia?"

Mikomi pondered how to go about this. On one hand, she had a huge sword aimed and ready to cut her in half if she didn't talk. On they other hand, if she revealed her status as a Mnemosyne, Kaoru would wring her neck when he found out about this, which he inevitably would. She gave Yuki a couple hours before she broke down in guilt and blabbed the whole plan to 'Master Kaoru.' Either way, it was a lose-lose situation. However, at least if she gave him his answers, it would prolong her existence for few extra hours. She decided to go along with the first choice.

"You are correct," she sighed. "I am a Mnemosyne."

Ichigo stepped forward. "I knew it! You're gonna pay, you-"

"Hold it!" Mikomi snapped. Regaining her composure, she pushed the blade away with her index finger and went on. "I am a Mnemosyne, but I was not the one who knocked out your partner. That was the doing of a comrade of mine, and to her credit, I believe her actions can be justified."

"How can knocking an injured person unconscious be justified?!"

"Exactly. Kuchiki _was_ injured, and attempting to save her recently-skewered partner. If she had attacked Savage Thinker in the state she was in, she would have most certainly been killed. By taking her out of the battle, my comrade saved her life."

Ichigo blinked. He hadn't thought about it like that. How many times had he attempted to enter a battle, fighting back grave wounds while his friends hollered at him to stay down. Rukia was strong, but she wasn't as strong as he was, there was no changing that fact. If she had attempted a rescue last night in her condition, Savage Thinker would have probably ripped off her head.

"Fair enough," Ichigo admitted. "But that doesn't mean I'm done with you, Miyomi."

"Mi_ko_mi."

"Whatever. I still want to know what a Mnemosyne exactly is, and whatever information you have about those weird telepathic Hollows, and their 'master.'"

"Master?" Mikomi whispered. How did know he about that? She shook her head. "Never mind. I apologize, but I am not at liberty to divulge such information to you, Kurosaki. Just know we have taken an interest in you, but we cannot afford too much knowledge of our existence to reach the Soul Society."

"That's too bad," Ichigo smirked. "But it just so happens, my mission kinda revolves around you guys and those freakish Hollows. If you've been the ones killing them, then it's safe to assume you can hold yourself in fight."

Mikomi narrowed her eyes. "Are you thinking of _challenging_ me in order to gain my knowledge?"

Ichigo shrugged, casually resting Zangetsu across his shoulders. "I sure as heck ain't challenging you to find out why you don't use contractions."

"There is nothing wrong with choosing to speak properly," Mikomi retorted, a vein throbbing on her brow. The throb stopped, and she held up her hand. "But know this, Ichigo Kurosaki. If you choose to engage me in battle, I will not hold back." A crackle of energy sparked across her clenched palm.

"Good," Ichigo replied, brandishing his weapon. "Neither will I."

Both teens stepped forward, ready to fight. Which is exactly what would have happened, if two people hadn't jumped out of nowhere, one twisting Mikomi's arms behind her back and other falcon-kicking Ichigo in the side of the head. When Ichigo attempted to slash his attacker, Zangetsu was yanked from his hands and a boot planted itself on his back, pinning him to the ground.

"You IDIOTS!" the newcomers hollered. "You can't fight HERE!"

_What the heck is happening now?_ Ichigo thought, struggling against the weight of the man's foot.

Mikomi looked passive at best. "Is this really necessary? I thought we agreed I was handling this."

"That was before you completely blew it!" the woman holding back Mikomi's arms shrieked. "You're on barrier duty, nothing more! You are _not_ supposed to engage Kurosaki!"

"And you spilled the beans about who we were," the man growled. "We're doomed, I hope you realize."

Though he was planted in the grass, Ichigo was able to get a good look at the new arrivals.

The woman was close to his height- if not shorter. She looked to be in her late teens to early 20s, with blonde hair the fell a little past her chin, pushed back by a black headband except for two thin locks that fell on either side of her face. Her hair had pink lowlights, and her eyes were darkly colored. Her outfit was made up of a black button-down vest, a dark pink collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a thick belt, and a black pleated skirt, black boots, a watch, and striped thigh-high stockings alternating between two shades of pink.

Clearly, she was a fan of pink.

Second, the man. Out of the two, his appearance was the most outrageous. He was fit, a couple inches taller than Ichigo, and had spiky dark hair and pale brown eyes. And that was all Ichigo could tell you about his physical appearance. His face, neck, and part of his chest were swathed in white bandages, like some kind of mummy. The only features visible on his head were his hair, eyes, and ears. Everything else was covered up. For clothing, he wore a light brown trench coat that fell to his ankles, a black deep v-neck shirt (showcasing more bandages), brown trousers, and combat boots that were a ridiculous shade of blue lavender. (The same color as Mikomi's necklace, Ichigo noted.) Around his forehead was a turquoise-colored headband with a black number 7 on the right side.

"Once again, I apologize, Kurosaki," Mikomi smiled gently. "I am afraid my comrades have misunderstood my intentions. I was not going to fight you, not really." She removed Pinkie's hands off her arms, and gestured to her and Mummy Guy. "Kurosaki, these are some more of the Mnemosyne you seem to be so interested in. The woman is Naomi Okada, and the man is Kane Yatabe."

"Shhh!" Naomi shushed. "Are you insane?! We're not supposed to tell him who we are until he passes the test!"

"You're doomed," Kane sighed gloomily. "We all are. Can I go now?"

"Kane, that is enough. We are not doomed," Mikomi said. "And he already is aware the Mnemosyne exist, so not telling him our names is just plain rude."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Ichigo piped up.

"NO, YOU DON'T!" Kane and Naomi snapped at the same time.

Mikomi exhaled loudly, and lightly pushed Kane off of Ichigo, afterwards helping the latter stand up. With quick motion, she yanked Zangetsu away from the bandaged man and handed it back to its rightful owner. Ichigo was surprised she could hold his zanpakuto with only one hand. Zangetsu was pretty heavy.

"Right, so what's this about a test?" Ichigo asked. He kept his weapon unwrapped, just in case.

Before Mikomi could answer, Kane broke in.

"Kid, you kicked an altered breed of Hollow's ass all by yourself. It took five of our people just to take out one," he answered bluntly. "Either you're ridiculously strong, incredibly stubborn, or just plain stupid. Whatever the case may be, we want to see if you're what we think you are. And in order to do that, we need to test your abilities."

Ichigo didn't have to be a genius to know what that meant. These guys wanted to fight him, and all because he defeated Savage Thinker. Mikomi said the Mnemosyne had gained an interest in him, but was that really the only reason? That didn't sound right to Ichigo, but he wasn't going to risk it.

"Sorry, but I'm going to have to turn you down," he replied. "I'm on a school trip, so I was promised no tests for a solid week."

Kane scoffed, and Mikomi gave him the 'cool and collected' equivalent of an exasperated look. Apparently, those two did not get along very well.

"It's just a quick spar," Naomi pointed out. "If you win, we'll tell you everything you need to know about the Mnemosyne. We may be able to help with a few things. In fact, you can even go tell Miss Kuchiki and those other friends of yours you're leaving, so they won't worry when you just disappear."

"Okay, I'm in," Ichigo agreed immediately.

"What the hell!" Kane shouted. "You can't change your mind that fast!"

Actually, Ichigo could. Naomi's argument reminded him the whole reason he was here in the Botanical Gardens. He was supposed to be gathering information, and now a source of such info was standing not two feet in front of him. All he had to do was beat them in a spar, and he'd know about the Mnemosyne, the Hollows, and maybe even about the Dampening Effect.

"Oh, well, okay then!" Naomi said, surprised. "Do you want to go give your friends a heads up or..."

"Nah, they know I can handle myself. They don't need to know."

"Meaning you do not want to involve your friends in this, on the off chance something akin to the events of yesterday evening occurs," Mikomi translated. "Am I correct?"

Ichigo gaped. "How-"

"The Mnemosyne who observed your battle gave me the abbreviated version of your 'number one guardian' speech," she answered. She gave Ichigo a warm smile. "You want to protect your friends, an endeavor we can relate to quite well."

"Also, you got a freakish habit of knowing what people are really feeling," Kane yawned, bored.

"Kane, don't be rude!" Naomi whacked him upside the head. "But whatever. Let's just go already. You have the device Tobikuma got from Emiko's lab?"

"Yeah yeah." Kane reached into his coat and removed a strange boxy-looking chunk of machinery. "Can't believe Tobikuma took this. Emiko's gonna dissect him when she finds out."

"Um, what is that?" Ichigo asked, pointing to the device.

Kane ignored him, and tapped a button on the side. In a flash of light, the young Vizard and three Mnemosyne vanished, as if they had never been there in the first place.

* * *

_**Elsewhere...**_

Tobikuma adjusted his glasses, glancing down at the ruined patch of forest below him. That Kurosaki kid really did a number the place, that was for sure. At least from up in the tree he was in, he would have a nice view of the test.

A flash of light filled the clearing. The guest of honor had arrived.

"Good," he said to himself, smirking. "It's showtime."

* * *

**ACK, it's been so long! But school has really gotten in the way, so updates will be more sporadic. I am not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but this is as good as it's gonna get.**

**Terms**

_Sekkiseki-_ a type of rock commonly found in the Soul Society the repels spiritual pressure.

_Konso-_ "Soul Burial." This is how soul reapers send ghosts to the Soul Society.

_Wholes-_ Average ghosts. You can identify them by the broken chains on their chests.

_Chain of Fate-_ The chain that connects the soul to the body. If it breaks, you're dead.


End file.
